Rematch
by nebula2
Summary: Takes place between D2 and D3. A year after the Ducks defeated the Hawks the Pee Wee Hockey Season is about to begin again but what team will Adam Banks skate for? Which team wants him? AN: Am updating chapters and planning on continuing this story.
1. Hawk or Duck?

**_Disclaimer: I don't own the Mighty Ducks I'm just borrowing them for this story._**

_AN 8-9-2012: A couple of months ago I got an anon review asking for this story to be continued. As it was left on with the intention of finishing it, I'm coming back to do just that. As my writing has gotten better over the years though, before adding to the story I will be going through each chapter, editing it, and then reposting so if any of the old readers are anxious for new chapters please be patient._

**Adam's POV:**

Glancing around the school auditorium my gaze fell on the people gathered in the first ten rows. I knew why most of them were here. It all had to do with one issue - me. Unfortunately I didn't see any friendly faces in the crowd. No one from District Five was among those gathered - none of the players or their parents. Not even the coach had bothered to show up. In fact Coach Bombay was the only coach in the league not present.

On the stage, the members of the Pee Wee Hockey League Council sat at a table. This preseason meeting was held every year and it was always open to anyone who wanted to come but never before had it been held in the school auditorium. It had never been necessary because very few people, if any, ever showed up for it. I guess there had never been a good enough reason before. Everyone had just assumed the League knew best. After last season though there were plenty of people who wanted their say on what would be decided this afternoon.

"And now onto the last topic of our agenda this afternoon - the district lines," Mr. Peabody, head of the council, said. "It is the leagues proposal to leave the district lines how they are," he said continuing. "Last season ended up being quite a thrilling and competitive season as we would like this season to be."

I was so happy. I'd get to stay a Duck. I wouldn't have to go back to being a Hawk. I wouldn't have to go back to skating under Coach Reilly.

"Is there anyone here who would like to address this issue?" Mr. Peabody asked. I stifled a groan as out of the corner of my eye I saw my Dad's hand go into the air. I was so wishing he would just go along with whatever the council had decided but I just couldn't be that lucky.

**Charlie's POV:**

"I still think we should've gone guys," I said, standing up from lacing my roller blades. School started in a couple of days and my friends and I were taking advantage of our last few days of vacation to hang out. We had decided to play a game of roller hockey today.

"Why? It's not like we could've said anything. They only listen to the adults anyways," Karp said. He had lost some weight since last season and grown a few inches so he wasn't fat anymore.

"We could've been there for support," I said. I knew Adam was going. His dad was making him and if Mr. Banks had anything to do with it then Adam would not be skating with District Five this season.

"Who cares," Peter said. He hadn't grown at all. He was still as short as he had always been. "Come on Bombay isn't even going and he's the coach."

I shook my head. There was gap between some of us this year. I could feel it already and the season hadn't even started. Peter, Karp, Tammy and Tommy had seemed to form their own little clique. It wasn't all their fault though. Those of us who had been a part of Team USA were all closer ourselves, especially with Adam. Plus, we couldn't help but feel like there was something missing. Julie, Portman, Dwayne, Russ, Ken and Luis were all playing for their respective clubs this year. I couldn't help but feel like we were missing part of the team. However, at least we had each other. I couldn't imagine being the lone member of Team USA on another team as they all were going to be this year..

"Coach just feels like he shouldn't get involved in this decision. He feels like he's caused enough trouble with his protest last season," Fulton said defending Coach Bombay before I had a chance to.

"Come on guys, let's just play," Jesse said. "I have to help my brother pack to go back to Mom's house it a little bit." Jesse was standing out in center court, the puck on the court in front of him. It had originally been Jesse's idea not to go to the meeting this afternoon. It wasn't that he didn't like Adam but I think Jesse just didn't like the idea of not being able to do anything about the situation. I had to admit I didn't like the idea myself. Adam was a part of this team now. I didn't want to lose him to the Hawks.

I think that was the reason I had been avoiding Adam all summer after our camping trip. I had a feeling that the league would redraw the lines. That Adam would be a Hawk again and I would lose my best friend. I figured by avoiding Adam now it wouldn't be as hard when the hockey season started and I was skating against him. Still Adam was our friend. We should be at that hearing.

"Come on, Charlie," I heard Connie call. I looked up to find that my friends had all formed up on the court. Goldberg and Karp were in front of the goals and the others were in their positions. I took the other empty spot at center court and took the face off with Jesse. Before long I was immersed in the game and had completely forgotten about the League meeting.

**Bombay's POV:**

I had told everyone that I wasn't going to go to the League meeting. That I didn't want to be involved in any way on what was going to be decided this afternoon because I felt I had already meddled enough. Last season I had pointed out the oversight with Adam Banks for completely selfish reasons. I had wanted to hurt Reilly. I knew Banks was his star player and I knew Banks could help the Ducks. I had wanted to win. I never took into consideration what would be best for Adam.

Now that I had gotten to know Adam Banks, I only wanted what was best for him. I didn't want to lose him as a player both because he was our star player and because I liked the atmosphere that he added to the team. Adam was focused. He wanted to do his best every time he took the ice, though sometimes I thought that was more to please his father than himself. And he was good but he wasn't a hotshot like some kids with talent. He recognized hockey as the team sport that it was and respected that. Adam had never hogged the puck while on the ice and was always ready to offer advice and help to teammates when needed. The kid had the talent to go all the way as long as the adults in his life didn't completely ruin his love for the game.

The last thing I wanted was to be the person who did that.

But I couldn't stay away. I slipped quietly into the back of the auditorium five minutes after the meeting had started. I had stayed in the back row and just listened. I wanted to know what was going on but I didn't want anyone to know that I was here.

As I watched the discussion about the district lines unfold I took little comfort in the fact that none of the adults seemed to be taking into consideration what would be best for Adam. His father was purely looking out for his own interests. He still couldn't accept Adam being a Duck. Being part of a team that consisted of lower income families. Families that he saw as beneath him. The other parents of the Hawks and Reilly himself simply just didn't want Adam back on the team. He was a traitor in their eyes. Parents and Coaches from the other teams were simply against any one person or small group of people having that much say over the league. They were angry that Philip Banks would even think that he could single handedly say which team his son belonged on.

I watched the argument proceed. It had long since ceased being a discussion. Mr. Peabody was trying desperately to regain control but was having little success. Philip Banks and Mr. McGill were currently yelling across the front of the auditorium at each other, everyone else seemingly forgotten.

My eyes drifted from the screaming Mr. Banks to the small figure sitting silently in the seat next to him. I had seen his face brighten when Mr. Peabody had said the league was leaving the district lines as they were. Now he had sank down into his seat with a lost look on his face.

My heart went out to him. How could I have done this to him. I wanted to speak up. To say something on Adam's behalf but I had already meddled enough. I couldn't live with myself if I made things worse, so I simply kept my mouth shut.

Fifteen minutes later Mr. Peabody had finally gotten things under control. The league members had a quick whispered conversation and then announced that they had changed their minds. The district lines would be redrawn. Adam Banks would be a Hawk again.

Philip Banks was smiling smugly. Once again he had won. He had gotten his way. Looking at him, I realized that I had once been just like that; back before the Ducks came into my life.

My eyes drifted over to where the Hawks and their parents were sitting. None of them looked happy about the decision. In the front row, Reilly looked to be the unhappiest of them all. I knew he wasn't going to make things easy on Adam.

I quietly got up and left the auditorium. I just hoped things would get better from this point and not go from bad to worse.


	2. A Father's anger

_Note: I'm glad to hear that people like the concept of this story. Thank- you Beaner, crazy4nc128, Spazzway99, Rachel, canadian-hockey-girl, and anne918 for reviewing. Hope you all like this chapter as much as you liked the first chapter._

_Note 8-9-12 second chapter has been edited and reposted._

**Adam's POV:**

"This is great," my father said as we headed out of the school and to his car. I coul hear the smug pleasure in his voice and why not? Once again he had gotten his way. "You'll be on the right team this year and things will go back to the way they should be."

I didn't say anything. I had a different opinion as to which was the right team than my Dad did. I didn't belong on the Hawks anymore. I was a Duck. There was no way I could go back to being a Hawk just like nothing had changed. McGill was going to make sure of that. I could tell by the looks he was giving me during the meeting. Not to mention the fact that Reilly didn't look at all happy to have me back on the team, if I even made the team. There was still a chance I would get cut during try outs on Friday. There were too many kids in our district who wanted to play on the team that not all of us would make it. For the first time ever, I had my doubts as to whether or not I was going to make the cut. Actually, this was the first time I ever found myself wondering if I wanted to make the cut.

"We'll show Bombay and those little misfits this year," my Dad was saying as he continued on his happy tirade as we drove home. I hadn't seen my Dad this happy in a long time. I probably should be happy that he was happy but I wasn't.

I didn't want to be a Hawk nor did the Hawks want me on the team anymore. That much had been clear at the hearing. Of course from the looks of it, the Ducks didn't much care about me either. None of them had even bothered to show up at the hearing.

As the drive home continued my Dad kept going on about how awful the Ducks were. That they were beneath us. How that last year was a fluke and that they needed to learn their place. He was insistent that the Hawks would show them that this year.

I didn't believe what he said about them. Wasn't going to believe it. Yeah maybe they didn't have money but they had proven to be better friends than the Hawks had been. And the Ducks had been the team to become Team USA for the Junior Goodwill Games last spring, not the Hawks. My Dad had seemed to forgotten that it was Coach Bombay's meddling and my friendship with the Ducks that had given me that opportunity. Not the Hawks and certainly not him.

My Dad pulled the car into the driveway. My mom was standing on the front steps waiting for us.

"How did the meeting go?" Mom asked as we got out of the car. I didn't answer. I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. All I wanted was to escape to my room.

"Great," I heard my Dad say enthusiastically. You'd think he was the one who was going to play hockey. "The district is going to redraw the lines and put Adam back with the Hawks."

"That's good news," Mom said to Dad knowing it was what he wanted to hear. She gave me a sympathetic look though. She knew it wasn't what I had wanted.

"Can I call Charlie?" I asked looking only at her not my dad. She was about to answer when my dad cut in.

"No. There is no need for you to have any contact with that group of trash. You're a Hawk now."

"But they're my friends," I said pleadingly.

"They're not worth it," my dad told me. "I absolutely refuse to let you talk to them or have any interaction with them."

"Charlie is so lucky he doesn't have a father," I muttered and headed for the front door.

"What did you say?" my father called after me as I headed inside.

I didn't answer him. He either heard me or he hadn't. I wasn't about to repeat it. I probably should have never had said it to begin with.

I was just about to head up the stairs when my dad grabbed my arm and pushed me up against the wall. I knew without looking at him that my Dad was angry. In fact I didn't even look at him. I kept my eyes focused on the wall behind him.

"I won't take that kind of lip from you young man," he yelled at me. "You know better than to talk to your elders that way. It's just proof that those so called friends of yours have been a bad influence."

I guess he had heard what I had said. I did what I should've done outside and kept my mouth shut and hoped he was done with his yelling and I could disappear upstairs. I couldn't be so lucky.

"I've gone out of my way to give you everything you could possibly want. To give you every chance possible. I even went out of my way to get you back on the best team in the league and this is how you repay me. With this ingratitude."

"I wish you hadn't," I muttered. It just slipped out. As soon as I said it though I knew I was going to regret saying it.

I felt the sting as my Dad slapped me across the face. I bit my lip to keep quiet. It wasn't the first time my Dad had hit me and it probably wouldn't be the last.

"I knew letting you hang out with those Ducks was a bad idea. It will come to a stop and you better relearn some decorum real quick. I won't tolerate this kind of behavior. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," I said quietly looking down at the floor.

"Now go upstairs and get ready for dinner and leave the attitude up there," he told me.

I hurried up the stairs and away from him. My dad scared me. My mother kept telling me that he only wanted what was best for me but I found that hard to believe. I always felt that I was a disappointment to my dad. That no matter how hard I tried and how well I did it was never good enough for him. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered to try to make him proud of me.

I went right to my room and shut and locked the door behind me. I so much wanted to call Charlie or Jesse and talk to them. Tell them about what had happened but I knew that would just be asking for trouble. My face still stung from that slap.

So instead of picking up the phone and calling one of the Ducks, I turned on my computer and connected to the internet. I opened my email account and started to compose an email to Dwayne Robertson. Even though I had all the email addresses for the Ducks who weren't from Minneapolis, Dwayne was the only one I had really corresponded with since the Junior Goodwill Games.

I had planned on just sending a quick message. I just wanted to feel like I had someone to reach out to. I wanted to feel like I wasn't alone. However, it didn't turn out to be a quick message. I soon as I started writing the email I found myself writing down all my anger and frustration with my Dad's actions which had taken me away from the Ducks. Away from my teammates who had become my friends. It felt good just to let everything out.

**Charlie's POV:**

After our game of roller hockey I headed home. My mom had the night off and was cooking dinner. It wasn't often that we had a chance to eat together as most nights I ended up either making something for myself or heating up something that she had left for me.

I was also hoping to hear from Adam. The meeting should've been just about over. I was curious as to what had happened. I was positive that no matter which way it had gone, Adam would call me or Jesse and if he called Jesse, Jesse would call me as soon as he was done talking with Adam.

As expected, my mom was preparing dinner when I got home. After saying a quick hello I went into the living room and turned on the tv. I waited for the telephone to ring but it never did.

"Charlie, dinner is ready," my mom called from the kitchen.

"Okay," I called back. I turned off the tv and headed for the kitchen. My mom handed me a plate and I got my dinner and then sat down at the table across from her.

Normally meal times in our house were not quiet. We always found something to talk about. Tonight however the conversation was one sided. I didn't feel much like talking. It didn't take long for my Mom to pick up on it.

"What's wrong Charlie?" she asked me.

"The Pee Wee Hockey League had there meeting today and I guess I'm worried about how it went. What if Adam is back with the Hawks this year?"

"The two of you can still be friends," my mom said sensibly.

"But it won't be the same."

"Charlie, do you even know for sure if the league is redoing district lines or not?"

"No," I admitted. She had told me that if I had wanted to go she would go with me but then we had all decided not to go when Coach Bombay had told us he wouldn't be going.

"Then I think you are borrowing trouble."

"But Adam hasn't called which probably means it's bad news."

"And by bad news you mean what?"

I shrugged my shoulders. I could think of a couple of ways that the decision made today would be bad. The most obvious is that the district lines would be redrawn and Adam would be a Hawk. But what if the district lines weren't redrawn and Adam remained a Duck but he didn't want to be. I guess that was what was really bothering me. Part of me was worried that Adam wanted to go back to being a Hawk. That he didn't care about me or the other Ducks. Maybe that was why he hadn't called.

"Well, if Adam hasn't called then why don't you call him," she suggested. "He may need a friend to talk to."

Now why hadn't I thought of that.

"Would you mind he I called him now?" I asked her.

"Go ahead," she said with a small smile. She probably figured I wouldn't be much for conversation if she didn't let me call anyways.

I got up from the table quickly and headed back out to the living room. I picked up the phone and quickly dialed Adam's number. It rang three times before someone picked up.

"Hello," I heard Mr. Banks say as he answered the phone. He didn't sound like he was in all that good of a mood.

"Is Adam there?" I asked.

"Who is this?" Mr Banks demanded.

"Charlie," I replied hesitantly.

"You're one of the Ducks aren't you?" he said. I could tell he didn't really need any answer so I kept quiet. "Well listen here, Charlie," he said, his voice not sounding at all friendly. "And tell all your little friends too. I don't want any of you kids calling this house again. You've been a bad enough influence on my son already and I won't have it anymore," he told me and then hung up.

I sat there looking at the phone for a few minutes before I actually hung it up. I wasn't sure what had just happened. I always had the feeling that Mr. Banks never really liked me, or any of the Ducks for that matter, but this was the first time any of us had been told not to call Adam. Feeling worse than I did before trying the phone call, I went back into the kitchen to finish my dinner.

"That was quick," my mom commented as I sat down.

"There was no answer," I told her, not wanting to go into what had just happened. When I didn't volunteer any more information my Mom let the matter dropped and went back to telling me about her day. I only half listened. I was trying to think of a way I could circumvent Mr. Banks and talk to Adam. I wanted to know what was going on.


	3. Dwayne

_Note: Sorry it's been awhile. I've been working on a couple of other storied which some of you are aware of and I needed the proper inspiration to write Adam's email. I hope you all like it. I was purposely vague on it before so I could include it in this part of the story. Thanks to Beaner, Banksiesbabe99, Rachel, anne918, and crazy4nc128 for letting me know how much you all enjoyed the last chapter and hope you think this chapter was worth the wait. And crazy4nc128 you'll be happy to know I answer your questions in this chapter._

_Note 8-11-12: And chapter 3 is revamped. I hope you all enjoy!_

**Dwayne's POV:**

"How was practice, honey?" I heard my Mom call out from the kitchen as I walked in the front door that afternoon.

I placed my practice bag down on the floor by the wall and walked toward the kitchen with my hockey stick still in my hand.

"Fine," I answered her as I leaned up against the doorway of the kitchen. I idly rotated the stick back in forth as

"Just fine?" she said looking up from the casserole she was making. "I remember last season practice was all you would talk about. The second you walked through that door you would start telling me everything that happened at practice."

"Nothing really interesting happened," I told her. Truth was I just didn't know how to tell her how I was feeling. I wasn't even sure myself. This was the first time that I didn't feel like I could talk to my mother. I usually told her everything.

"Dwayne, what's wrong? You haven't been the same since you came back from California."

Leave it to a mother to notice things like that.

"I guess the experience changed me," I told her simply, not really wanting to discuss the subject. "Do you need any help getting dinner ready?" I asked her trying to change the subject.

"No, I'm fine," she answered with a concern look on her face. I felt bad. I wanted to tell her what was going on because I knew she was genuinely concerned.

"I'm going upstairs then," I replied, knowing that if I hung around she would continue to try getting me to talk.

Leaving the kitchen, I made my way back to the foyer where I picked up my bag and headed upstairs. Halfway up the steps, I heard the sounds of the Back Street Boys drifting down the steps. I knew the music was from Nicole, my younger sister. She was eight years old and the only one in my family who didn't listen to country music.

As I walked toward her room the music got louder and then drifted away as I made my way past her room toward my own which was at the far end of the hallway. Halfway there I passed my other sister's room. I paused outside contemplating on whether I wanted to knock on the door or not.

Roxanne and I were twins and although technically I was about three minutes older, I never really had considered her a younger sister. In some ways she almost seemed like an older sibling. She was the more serious of the two of us and the one I had always gone to for advice. She was also the more popular of the two of us. Most of my friends were people I had met through her. The only ones who didn't fall into the category were the Ducks.

Roxanne was actually probably the better skater too, not that most people would ever know that. The two of us had gotten into hockey together and had played on the same team for a couple of years. Then when it had been time to move up to the Pee Wee league Roxanne got cut from the team. We all knew it had nothing to do with her ability and that the coach had cut her because she was girl. There were no girls in Austin's Pee Wee hockey league and they hadn't wanted to start with Roxanne. Hockey wasn't a sport for girls.

My parents had been furious. They had wanted to fight it but Roxanne didn't. She still skated with our friends and would play when we got together for fun but she had turned her interests to music and she seemed happy. She hadn't wanted to deal with the publicity fighting the league would have brought although there were times I was positive she missed playing hockey.

As much as I wanted to talk to someone, I just couldn't bring myself to knock on the door. With a sigh I kept on walking to my room and put my hockey gear aside. It was only three days into the start of my hockey season and part of me was wishing that it was already over.

Something was missing this year. It wasn't the same. Maybe the problem was that I was comparing my team here in Austin to the team I had played with in the Junior Goodwill games - the USA Mighty Ducks as we had finally came to be known as. Yeah, everything hadn't gone perfectly. The first game against Iceland had been a fiasco. I had never been on a team that had loss that bad in my life. We had only scored once and the goal had been made by Adam Banks, who had paid for the goal when an unhappy Iceland player had brought his stick down on Banks wrist. In the end though, we had pulled together. We had become a team, not just on the ice but off the ice too. Coach Bombay had even taken us on a camping trip over the summer to get us back together.

Boy did I miss the Ducks. I had grown closer to some of them than I had ever been to my friends here in Austin despite the short time that I had known them. There wasn't anyone her in Austin that I felt really close to. I mean, yeah sure I called them my friends and we got together from time to time to play games outside of practice but that is all I ever did with them. We never went out to the movies together or just hung out like the Ducks did. Roxanne had friends who she went and did stuff like that with, and in a way I guess they were my friends to as I always knew that I was welcome to hang out with them, but it just wasn't the same.

I sat down in front of my computer and turned it on. I connected to the internet and was happy to see that I had two new email messages. The first one was from Dean Portman. I'm not even sure how Dean and I got to be friends at all. We were as different as day and night. He had seemed so much older than all of us. So much more sophisticated. Yet for some reason we had hit it off from the moment we met, although not quite as well as he and Fulton Reed had eventually done. Even though Dean and Fulton had become best friends Dean had still found time for me and I never had felt left out.

Dean's message wasn't fairly short. His school year had started today and he had wrote the message during study hall. He told me about some of the teachers he had this year and about the practical joke he and some of his friends had pulled on their English teacher already. I kind of felt sorry for the teacher, what with having to deal with Dean and his friends. I wrote a quick reply as I didn't have much to tell him. My first day of school wasn't until Monday and I didn't really want to tell him about hockey practice much like I didn't want to tell my mother.

The second message was from Adam Banks. I hadn't really know Adam to well during our time out in California. Adam was not that outgoing and had kept to himself a lot during the Junior Goodwill Games. Even when he had gotten hurt, he had tried to deal with things by himself. I had tried a couple of times to get a conversation going with him and it hadn't been that easy. Still, even then, I knew that if I could ever get past the wall Adam put up to protect himself, we would be great friends. Time had proven me right.

Right after the Goodwill games all of us emailed each other a lot but then it had died down in about a week. After our camping trip the same thing happened, all of the Ducks wrote to each other but it didn't last long. I'm sure all of us had one or two teammates we kept in contact with, like I did with Dean and Adam. After a few emails Adam had started opening up to me. We had a blast on the camping trip together and I had even gotten to know Charlie and Jessie a little bit better as Adam was good friends with them. I always thought Adam had the perfect life, yeah his father seemed a bit pushy, but other than that Adam seemed to have everything. His family was rich, he was good at hockey, good at school, and people just seemed to naturally like him, even though he wasn't the most open person. His email however completely shattered that idea.

It read:

Hey Dwayne-

How's everything going? You've had a couple of hockey practices already

haven't you? Let me know how that is going.

Things here could definitely be going better. Remember how I told you about

the possibility of the league redrawing the district lines which could change which team

I play on this season. Well, the league meeting was today. My dad drug me to it. I wish

my dad hadn't even gone. The league was going to leave the lines the way they were,

which meant I was going to be able to stay with the Ducks, and then my Dad had to go

and open his mouth. He just can't except me being a Duck because he is so wrapped

up in tradition. Being a Hawk is a family tradition and my Dad can't see past that.

He's blinded to the fact that I don't belong on that team anymore. Not only do I hate

Reilly's idea of what hockey is, I know the Hawks don't want me back. I could see it on

their faces this afternoon.

To make matters worse, none of the Ducks were even there. It would have been

nice if some of them could've been there for support - you know, a few friendly faces in the crowd. Not even Charlie or Jessie could find the time to show up and they are

supposedly my best friends. With friends like that I don't need enemies but I have a

whole team of them too. Coach Bombay wasn't even there! He's the whole reason I was even a Duck in the first place! He had no problem meddling in my life last year. What makes this year any different. I'm starting to feel as if the Ducks don't want me on the team this year either. This season hasn't even started and I'm afraid of what it might hold for me.

Of course I still have to make it through try outs for the Hawks on Friday. Part

of me hopes that Reilly cuts me as I'm not sure I even want to play hockey this season.

I'd quit but who knows what my dad would do if I did that. At least if I get cut he can't

blame me, I hope. Knowing my dad he'll probably simply say that I didn't try hard

enough. That I didn't apply myself. And speaking of my father, if Reilly does cut me

on Friday I know that won't go smoothly. My dad won't be able to keep his mouth shut

and let it go. He proved that this afternoon.

I find myself wishing that the Iceland player who brought his stick down on my

wrist during our first game against them, had done it a little harder. That the injury had

been bad enough to keep me from playing hockey. It would've been my way out. My

father would have had to accept it. Then maybe he could have started seeing me as his

son and not as his last opportunity to fulfill his dream.

I'm sorry to go on about all this but I needed to tell someone. Just writing it all

done makes me feel a little bit better. I definitely hope things are going better down there

in Texas.

Later,

Adam.

I couldn't believe it, so I read through the email a second time just to be sure. The words hadn't changed. Adam sounded miserable and due to the distance between us there wasn't much I could do. His situation made my problems seem trivial. I immediately wrote him a reply, seeing as offering companionship through email was about all I could do with him in Minnesota and me in Texas. At least he had some other Ducks there for support.

But then I thought about what he had said, that none of the Ducks had gone to the meeting. I wondered if Charlie and the others even knew about the outcome or if they even cared. In a way, Adam was just as alone as I was. They were the ones who had taught Julie, Dean, Ken, Russ, Luis and I what it meant to be a Duck and the way I saw it they weren't living up to it right now. I was suddenly very angry with them.

I decided that I couldn't just let this go. I went into my address book and found Charlie's email address - after all he was the Captain and supposedly Adam's best friend. I decided to let Charlie know just how I felt about the way he was treating Adam.

**Charlie's POV:**

After the very quiet dinner with my mom, I retreated to my room. I thought about the short conversation I had with Mr. Banks. We all knew Adam's dad didn't like us and I'd have to say the feeling went both ways. I figured I was better off not having a father than to have a father like him. Still, why had he all of a sudden decided that he was going to forbid us from talking to Adam. What did it mean? What had happened at that meeting? I was wishing more and more that I had gone. I knew one way to find out.

Turning on my computer, I connected to the internet. If I couldn't talk to Adam on the phone then I would simply send him an email. It seemed kind of stupid because he lived so close but at least his father couldn't intercept the email.

I opened my email account to find that I had an email from Dwayne. I hadn't heard from him since right after our camping trip this summer. Curious I decided to read his email before composing the one to Adam. What I read came as a surprise to me.

Charlie

I can't believe you and the others would be so cold. Don't you guys care at all

about Adam. He is a Duck you know, despite the fact that your hockey league wants

to put him on another team. It shouldn't change the fact that he's your friend and if

it does than I don't want to be friends with you. For the first time ever, I'm not very

proud of being a Duck if it means you turn your back on your friends.

Dwayne

I sat there staring at the screen for a few minutes, trying to understand the email. It didn't sound like the easygoing Texan at all, but then I hadn't really seen him upset and the one thing that I was sure of from the email was that he was angry at me.

Dwayne mention the hockey league putting Adam on another team. I assumed he was getting his information from Adam in which case I knew what had happened at the meeting - the district lines had been redrawn once again and Adam was on the Hawks. I also had a feeling that Dwayne was operating on the assumption that I knew exactly what was going on and I guess it was a fair assumption. If I had been any kind of friend I would've been there at the meeting earlier this afternoon and I would've known what was going on.

If Adam was a Hawk again, which explained his father. Now that his son wasn't on the team, Mr. Banks figured it was going to be easy to keep Adam away from us. Well he was wrong.

Dwayne's email had made me realize just how wrong I had been. I turned off my computer. An email wasn't the answer. I didn't care what Mr. Banks wanted, I was going to talk to Adam in person.

Grabbing my roller blades and jacket, I quietly crept out of my room. My mom wasn't in the living room for which I was thankful. Though Mom would probably let me out of the house, I didn't really feel like trying to explain anything right now. Quietly, I made my way to the front door and slipped out of the apartment. Once I was outside I put my blades on and then took off in the direction of Edina. I had to talk to Adam. I just hopped he would be willing to listen to me.


	4. Back to school

_Beaner- sorry the update wasn't fast but it is longer than most of my updates. I'm glad you liked Adam's email. I worked hard on that. I agree that Dwayne's email was a little harsh but oh well. Kids can be cruel at times. Hope you like this chapter._

_Banksiesbabe99 - I'm glad you're enjoying this story. I like getting reviews even if they're only one word. At least I know people are reading. Thanks for reading.\_

_Spazzway99- Yep, Charlie did skate right to Adam's house and you finally get to read about the conversation. Hope you like it._

_Anne918- I'm glad you like Dwayne's life in Texas. I plan on doing some more with that but it isn't in this chapter. I'm glad you like the idea of Adam and Dwayne being friends. I wanted to include one of the out of state Ducks and Dwayne just seemed to be the best choice._

_Starr2- yeah I agree Dwayne was a bit harsh but hey it happens. Yes Charlie and Adam talk in this chapter and you got the idea of a window being involved right but I don't think its exactly how you're picturing it. Sorry the update took so long._

_Rachel- hope you're just as happy with this update as the last one. I'm glad you like my Dwayne. It took awhile to figure out how I wanted to portray him. Enjoy this chapter._

_Araya Arwen - glad you like the story. I will warn you though I have been slow in updating this story so far so you'll have to be patient. Hope you keep enjoying it though._

**_AN 8-14-12: Wow, this was a long chapter but I'm finally through it. I'm starting to get back into the story again myself and I think my original plotline for it is starting to come back. Svams - this just goes to show you what a simple thing as leaving a review can inspire. I hope you enjoy rereading the chapters._**

**Charlie's POV:**

It wasn't long before I left the familiar surroundings of my neighborhood behind. As I skated toward Adam's house, the scenery changed as townhouses replaced apartment buildings and then those homes gave way to single family homes. The differences in our neighborhoods was the biggest difference between me and Adam and one that the Ducks and I held against him for awhile. Once we got to know Adam though we realized that despite where he came from he was a great person to be a friend with. That still didn't mean I didn't feel uncomfortable in Adam's neighborhood.

As I got close to Adam's house I took my roller blades off and switched back into my sneakers. When I reached his yard, I left the sidewalk and started across the yard using the trees and bushes as covers. The last ting I needed was to be spotted by Mr. Banks. The fact that it was now getting dark was to my advantage.

Making my way through the yard I headed for the side of the house I knew Adam's room was on. Standing next to the house I looked up at the second floor windows trying to figure out which ones went to Adam's room having only been in his house twice. I thought there was only one other room toward the front of the house before his, and I think it was his brother's room, so I counted three windows back. That window was the first window that had a light on in the room so I thought it was a pretty good chance that it was his.

I looked around on the ground and spotted a small broken piece of a stick on the ground. I took a couple of steps back and then threw the stick up at the window trying to get Adam's attention. I waited a few moments but no one came to the window. I picked the stick back up and tried again. This time I saw a shadow in the window. I was just hoping that it was Adam. As I kept watching the window opened and I saw Adam stick his head out the window and look around.

"Adam," I called up softly not wanting to draw anyone else's attention but his.

"Charlie!" Adam called back surprised. "What are you doing here? If my father finds you here..."

"I know," I told him cutting him off. "I already tried calling once and he told me not to bother calling again but I need to talk to you Adam."

"Charlie this isn't the best idea. We could both get in a lot of trouble," Adam told me, both looking and sounding worried which made me wonder what kind of conversation he'd had with his father this afternoon.

I wasn't about to give up though after coming this far.

"Adam please just listen too me. I'll say what I have to say from down here if you want."

I saw Adam shaking his head. "Hold on," Adam responded before I could say anything else. Before I knew it Adam was climbing out of his window and into the nearby tree. With a lot of grace and expertise he quickly made his way down the tree and was soon standing on the ground next to me.

"Do you do that a lot?" I couldn't help but ask him.

"Just because I'm a Cake-eater doesn't mean I don't know how to sneak out of my room," Adam told me with a smile.

I just shook my head. Somehow I never pictured Adam sneaking out of his house, especially not by climbing down a tree. Adam grabbed my arm and lead me over to the nearby bushes. We sat down on the ground on the other side of the bushes out of sight from the house.

"So what happened this afternoon?" I asked him. I had a feeling I already knew the answer but I wanted to hear it from him. I didn't want to go jumping to wrong conclusions and mess things up even more than they already were between us.

"The district is redrawing the lines," Adam told me confirming what I had concluded from Dwayne's email. "I'm supposed to be a Hawk this year."

I wasn't sure what to say. What if I said I was sorry to hear that and he was glad he was going to be a Hawk this year? Or if I told him I was happy for him and he didn't want to skate with the Hawks. I couldn't read him. I didn't know how he felt about the whole situation. I wasn't even sure which would be worse.

"Why weren't you there this afternoon Charlie?" Adam asked me before I could make up my mind what to say to him.

"I don't know," I told him. "I guess maybe I was afraid to go because there was nothing I could do about it. I mean the league wouldn't have listened to me and Bombay wasn't going. He feels as if he's mess things up for you enough last year."

"Even though I didn't realize it then, Bombay getting me on the Ducks last year was the best thing that ever happened to me," Adam said.

I was thrilled to hear that but it made me feel even worse. Even if things were out of my hands I should've gone to show support.

"I'm sorry Adam. I should've been there for you and I wasn't." I thought about what my Mom had told me earlier that night that just because we were on different teams didn't mean we couldn't be friends. "I still want to be your friend even if you are a Hawk this year."

"But my Dad..."

"Forget your Dad. So we can't call each other, so what. We have email and I'm sure you can sneak out from time to time and hang with us. Your Dad won't even have to know."

"Are the others going to even want me around?" Adam asked.

"Sure. No matter what the league says you're still a Duck," I told him even though I wasn't so sure about how Peter, Tommy, Tammy and Karp would feel about that. However I did know how Jesse and the others would feel. They would feel the same as I did.

Adam didn't say anything out of that and I couldn't stand the silence so I asked another question.

"What about school?"

Adam was supposed to go to public school with the rest of us this year. I knew it was his mother's idea but with all that had happened I couldn't help but wonder if that was still going to happen.

"I don't know," Adam told me. "I haven't heard anything one way or another from either of my parents."

"Adam," I started and then hesitated. I wasn't sure if this was the best question to ask. I wasn't even sure I wanted to know the answer but I needed to ask it. Besides, I knew that if I didn't ask the question I would be wondering about it and wishing I had. "Adam, do you want to skate with the Hawks?"

Adam didn't answer right away which I took to mean that the answer to my question was yes. He wanted to be back with the Hawks. He didn't want to be a Duck.

"No, Charlie I don't," Adam finally said so softly I could barely hear him. "At one time I would've loved going back to the Hawks but not anymore. Being a part of the Ducks allowed me to find something that I had been missing for a long time. Made me realize something that I hadn't realized I was missing - I found my love for the sport once again, Charlie. The real reason that I started playing hockey. I wasn't playing just to win, or just for my Dad, I was playing because it was fun. I'm going to miss that."

"You almost sound as if you'd rather not play this year than play for the Hawks," I said trying to get Adam to talk about what he was feeling instead of just bottling it all up inside.

"Yeah, you're right but that isn't an option," Adam told me. "I can't quit. My Dad would never go for that. My only hope is not making it through try outs on Friday."

"Adam, don't let your dad or Reilly or the Hawks ruin hockey for you. You're good. Man I wish I had half your talent," I told him honestly. "Don't let them take the fun from it."

"It's easy for you to say that, Charlie. You weren't there this afternoon. You didn't see the hate in their eyes. They don't want me on that team any more than I want to be there," Adam told me. "Look, I better get back inside before my Dad realizes I'm missing. Thanks for coming by Charlie."

"Adam, you're not alone. We're here for you. Whenever you need us."

"Thanks Charlie," he said and then hurried across the lawn to the tree outside his window. I watched him climb up the window not wanting to leave until I knew he was safely back inside his house.

**Adam's POV:**

I climbed quickly back up the tree after talking with Charlie. The talk had made me feel better. At least I knew my Dad's stupid protest and the league's decision wasn't going to cost me my friendship with Charlie. Although if my Dad caught me things could be much worse than they already were. I was just hoping that he or my Mom hadn't come looking for me while I was outside talking behind the bushes.

I grabbed hold of the window sill and pulled myself into the room as I saw my bedroom door start to open. Why hadn't I locked the door before my little escapade? I was still climbing through the window when my Mom walked into the room. I was glad it was her and not my Dad. I knew she was still going to be upset with me but it definitely wouldn't be as bad.

"Adam, what are you doing?" she asked quickly as she rushed over to the window as I climbed the rest of the way in.

"Climbing back in through the window," I replied easily, as if it was a common occurrence. I knew it wasn't the answer she was looking for. She gave me one of her looks and I knew I had better come up with a better answer, so I told her the truth. I had never lied to my Mom before in my life and I wasn't going to start now. I saved the lying for talking my way out of situations with my Dad.

"I climbed down the tree to talk to Charlie. Dad won't let me talk to him on the phone or see him and he came over to see me. I had to talk to him Mom."

"But climbing out the window?" she said as I sat down on my bed. I heard concern in her voice not anger and felt relieved. "Adam that's very dangerous. What if you had fallen? You could have broken your neck."

"I'm sorry," I told her and I was. I was sorry I had worried her but I just had to talk to Charlie and for some reason I think my Mom understood that.

"Adam, look I know this afternoon didn't go the way you wanted it too," my Mom told me sitting down next to me. " I saw how happy you've been skating with the Ducks and can see what a positive influence your new friends have been on you. All I want is your happiness so I won't stop you from seeing them but please don't ever disappear without telling me again. Okay?"

I nodded my head. At least I still had one ally in the house.

"Look, the reason I came up here to tell you about school. Your father wants you to go back to private school," She told me. I couldn't stop the groan that came out of my mouth despite figuring that was what my father would want. "He feels that you should be going to school with your teammates," she told me. "However, I put my foot down this time. Maybe I should do it more often, but standing up to your father isn't easy. However, I don't want you back at your old school after all the fights and stuff that took place last year. You're still going to public school this year but I need you to do something for me," she told me. "Please come right home after schoo. If you don't your Dad is going to know you're hanging around with your friends and right now it's best not to cross him on that."

I nodded my head. She had a point. At least I was going to get to see Charlie and the others during the school day. That was something. And I wouldn't have to worry about McGill and the others wanting to beat me up all day. They could save that for hockey practice.

"And one more thing, I know you don't want to be a Hawk and I don't blame you but please show a little bit of enthusiasm in front of your father about it. It means a lot to him and I know he doesn't show it but he does love you Adam," my Mom told me.

Somehow, I found that hard to believe. I couldn't remember the last time my Dad had told me that he loved me or that he was even proud of me. He usually only told me that I had done something wrong or that I wasn't living up to my potential. As hard as I tried I couldn't make him happy and I was about ready to give up trying, but if my Mom wanted me to show some enthusiasm about being a Hawk than I would do it. I would do it for her.

"Okay, Mom. I'll try," I told her.

"Thank-you," she told me giving me a hug.

After she had left I went to my computer and logged into my email. I wanted to send Charlie an email and let him know that I would still be going to school with him and the Ducks this year. Starting a new message, I had a feeling my email would be getting a lot of use this year.

Casey's POV:

I was in my room reading a book when I heard a knock at the door. I ignored it at first figuring that Charlie would get it like he usually did but then I heard a knock a second time. With a sigh I put my bookmark in the book and got up to go answer the door.

I opened the door to find Gordon Bombay standing there.

"Gordon, hi," I said surprised to see him. . "Come on in," I invited him. He looked disappointed by something and I had a feeling I knew what it was. "Is something wrong?" I asked, as the two of us sat next to each other on the couch.

Though it only lasted a few seconds, the pause Gordon took before answering the question seemed like an eternity.

"I ended up at the meeting this afternoon, despite my resolve not to go. I just couldn't stay away, so I slipped in just as the meeting was starting, and sat in the back row. I don't think anyone saw me."

"I would've went with you," I told him, supportively.

"I know," Gordon told me, meeting my gaze. It was times like these I wondered why I had told him I just wanted to be friends. "Anyway, Philip Banks got his way. Adam is back with the Hawks this year."

"Charlie is going to be crushed," I said knowing how close my son had gotten to Adam over the last year.

"So is Adam," he told me. "I could see it in his face as soon as his Dad started protesting the leagues decision to leave the lines how they were. No one there even stopped to consider what would be best for Adam. I almost got up and got into the argument myself."

"Then why didn't you?" I asked softly. Though initially I had my doubts about how much he cared about these kids, and perhaps in the beginning those doubts were founded, I knew each member of his team meant the world to Gordon. He was the best coach that District five had ever had and perhaps the best current coach in the league.

"Because I did the same thing to him last year. That protest about the district lines - that was for me. I wanted to get back at Reilly somehow. I wanted to beat him. I never once stopped to consider what bringing Adam onto the Ducks would mean for him. He was my key to winning games, despite knowing that the other kids didn't like him.

I smiled, knowing how hard that was for Gordon to admit. As much as he had done for these kids, being their coach had benefitted him then. "But at least you see that now and in the long run, I think it has been beneficial for him. I think Adam enjoyed himself more with the Ducks once he was accepted, and he and Charlie are good for each other. Their friendship has shown those kids that social class doesn't define what kind of person you are, more than anyone talking to them could ever do. Plus, Adam got to skate at the Junior Goodwill games. Everything considered, I think you have been a positive influence on his life."

"Yeah, maybe but what is going to happen to him now? Going back to the Hawks is not going to be easy for him."

"That's out of your control now," I told him.

Before anything else could be said, the apartment door opened and Charlie walked in. I hadn't even realized he had left, which didn't make me happy at all.

"Where have you been?" I asked him as Charlie slowly pushed the door closed.

"I'm sorry Mom, but I had to go see, Adam. I did get an answer earlier and Mr. Banks wouldn't let me talk to him. In fact, he told me to never call the house again but I had to see Adam. I had to talk to him."

While I could understand my son's desire to talk to his friend, I didn't approve of his actions.

"So you snuck out of here and went over to his house?" I said incredulously. All the bad things that could've happened came flooding to my mind. "Do you realize you could have gotten hurt on your trip over there and no one would have known where you were?"

"I'm sorry Mom," Charlie told me.

"Go to your room," I told him not wanting to carry this out any further in front of Gordon. Charlie didn't say anything as he headed for his room.

"Well, I guess he knows about the league's decision then," Gordon commented as Charlie shut the door to his bedroom.

"Yeah, I guess so," I said, not sure what else to say. Suddenly I was feeling as lost as Gordon was about what to do about this. I was beginning to see that this wasn't affecting just Adam and his family. It was affecting a lot of people - my son being one of them. "It's going to be a long hockey season, isn't it,?" I asked, not really needing the answer but wanting to say something to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the room.

"Yeah, it is." Gordon told me. He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. I was glad he was here and thankful for his support.

As I relaxed against Gordon, I thought about what I was going to say to my son. It wasn't the intent of his actions that I protested but the way he had gone about it. Conveying that to Charlie though wasn't going to be easy.

**Adam's POV:**

On Thursday, the new school year started. I had never looked forward to the start of school before in my life. It wasn't that I hated school, it really wasn't all that bad, but this year was different. I wanted out of the house and away from my Dad for awhile. I hadn't been grounded exactly, but not having any friends in my neighborhood anymore didn't make going outside that appealing. I did go out and skate some, and practiced shooting a bit in my driveway, but it wasn't the same. I wanted to see the Ducks but as my Dad didn't want me hanging out with them that wasn't the easiest thing to do anymore.

As I waited for the bus that morning I couldn't help but glance over at Shane Larson's house next door. I saw Shane and his sister come out of the house and head down the stone walkway to the sidewalk. Shane glanced briefly in my direction and then looked away as he continued on his way to the bus stop for the Edina Private School bus - the same place I had waited with him ever since kindergarten. Though Shane and I hadn't talked since right after I had joined the ducks, it felt strange not to be heading to the bus stop with him.

I knew that going to public school wasn't going to be easy. Except for the Ducks, I wouldn't know anybody, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about getting beat up by McGill and his goons. Instead I would probably be facing the public school versions of McGill. Just like the rest of the Ducks had at first, I knew I was going to face kids who didn't like me just because of the neighborhood that I came from.

The school bus pulled up at that point and I climbed on board. I looked at the unfamiliar faces and wondered if I was doing the right thing. I found and empty seat about halfway back and sat down, concentrating on the passing scenery rather than the conversations going on around me. I was hoping that if I left everyone alone they would leave me alone too.

At the school, I stepped off the bus and looked around for any of the other Ducks. I didn't see them. I knew Charlie had gotten my email because he had sent a reply to but I still didn't see him or any of the others. With a sigh, I headed toward the front doors by myself.

I had been given a tour of the school the week before when my Mom had enrolled me. The school guidance counselor had provided me with my schedule and showed me where all my classes would take place. Right now though, that tour seemed ages to go and the unfamiliar hallways might as well be a garden maze. After getting lost twice I finally found my locker. Opening it, I placed my lunch on the top shelf and hung up my jacket. I was about to shut the door when someone slammed it shut for me.

I turned around and found myself face to face with a mean looking kid. He was only about an inch taller than me but he was bigger and didn't look at all friendly. I tried to walk away but he side stepped and blocked my way.

"Hey, preppy," the big guy said. "I think you got lost. The rich snobs belong on the other side of the town."

I looked down at the floor. This wasn't going any better than the end of last year had gone. Before anything else could happen though I hear a familiar voice behind me.

"Leave him alone."

Looking over my shoulder I saw Fulton Reed approaching us. Glancing back at the bully, I thought at firs he wasn't going to go anywhere, but then he seemed to have second thoughts about the situation. I guess tangling with Fulton wasn't something that he wanted to take on, and giving Fulton's size I couldn't blame him. Even us Hawks hadn't messed with him when there was more than one of us. With one last final glare at me, the bully turned and disappeared into the crowd.

"Thanks Fulton," I said letting out a breath I hadn't known I had been holding.

"No problem, man" Fulton told me. "I'm sorry to hear you won't be skating with us this year but at least your Dad still let you come to school with us."

"This isn't exactly my Dad's idea. It's my Mom's doing that I'm here," I told him.

"Well whoever's idea it is, I'm glad you're here. We've all missed you, Adam."

"Really?" I couldn't help but ask, having a hard time believing it.

"Really," Fulton said. "Where's your home room?"

I glanced down at the paper with my schedule on it. "One twenty- nine," I told him.

"Great," Fulton told me. "That's my home room, too. In fact most of us are in that home room," he told me.

As Fulton started walking down the hallway, I fell into step with him. I was glad to have found a familiar face in the crowded halls. For the first time all morning I was starting to think that maybe this hadn't been a mistake.

* * *

Friday came much too quickly for my liking. I had no desire to go to try outs. To face my former teammates. But I had too. It was just one of those things that I couldn't get out of.

My Dad dropped me off in front of the rink and then went to park the car. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of him hanging around for tryouts but then I guess he didn't trust me to actually go to try outs and to be honest the thought of skipping them had crossed my mind.

I made my way to the locker room and started getting ready. Other kids were already in there but they were guys I didn't recognize, either this was their first try out or they hadn't made it last year and were trying again.

"Hi Adam," I heard a familiar voice say to me as I was lacing up my skates. I looked up to see Shane Larson sitting down on the bench across from me. Part of me was surprise he was even talking to me, let alone being civil.

"Hi," I said not really sure what else to say. I went back to lacing up my skates and he didn't say anything else. I guess I should've just been happy with the hi. I knew none of my former teammates were excited about having me back.

I finished lacing up my skates and headed out to the rink to do some warm-up laps. On my second lap around someone came up behind me and put their hands over my eyes.

"Guess who?" I heard a familiar voice say as I came to a stop.

"Hi Alex," I said, a smile slowly coming to my face for the first time that afternoon. "How's your mother doing?" I asked her as we started skating around the rink again. Alex's mother had been diagnosed with leukemia last fall and she had missed the hockey season as a result. This was her last year to play for PeeWee's and I was glad to see that she was trying out for the team again. She might just turn out to be the only friend I had on the team.

"She's doing okay. The leukemia is in remission and she started back to work over the summer," Alex told me.

As we skated by the bench where she had left her stick she quickly retrieved it and rejoined me. "Look, I know you're probably not all to thrilled to be back on the Hawks this year given how the school year ended but I just wanted to say I'm glad you are. I'd miss you if you weren't and no matter what happens, I'm your friend. Just remember that."

"Thanks," I told her. "You're probably going to be the only friend I have on the team this year." I glanced over at where McGill, Ryan Foote, and Mark Murphy were gathered talking. I was surprised not to see Shane with them.

"Forget about them," Alex told me. "They're jerks anyway."

I had to smile at that. There had never been any love loss between Alex and McGill and McGill had started staying away from Alex ever since she had slugged him one time at school. I'm not even sure what he had said that had set her off.

Reilly blew his whistle and try outs began. I tied to put everything that was going on out of my head. Just like when I had first joined the Ducks, I was here to play hockey, nothing else. So what if most of my teammates hated me. The Ducks hadn't exactly liked me that much the first game I played with them. In fact, it had taken awhile for some of them to warm-up to me. I'd simply do my best out on the ice and try to steer clear of them off the ice.

Tryouts were rigorous as always. However, this year I think McGill took pleasure in checking me against the boards. It almost seemed as if the other team was especially out to get me during our scrimmage game but despite that I still managed to score quite a few goals. I knew that if Riley cut me it wasn't going to have anything to do with my skating ability.

When tryouts were over I headed for the locker room and quickly changed out of my gear. I didn't want to hang around the locker room any longer than necessary. As I walked out of the locker room though I found Alex already there leaning up against the wall.

"You're on the team," she told me simply as I walked across the hallway to stand beside her.

"Great," I said a little less enthusiastically than I had meant to.

"Aren't you going to ask what position you play?" she asked.

"I don't really care," I told her. She looked a little hurt by my indifference but she let it go.

"Well, do you want to come over to my house for dinner tonight? I haven't seen you in awhile Adam we have a lot to catch up on."

Dinner at Alex's place certainly sounded much better than dinner at my house. "I'll have to ask my Dad," I told her.

"Then lets go find him," she said and with that started walking down the hallway toward the front entrance of the ice arena. As we approached the lobby I heard faint voices that I recognized.

"We're going to make him regret he came back," I heard McGill saying and I heard a few others agreeing with him.

I knew who the him they were referring to was.

"Guys just let it go," I heard Shane told him.

"No. Look Larson you're either with us or you're not but if you say anything to anyone you're going to regret it," I heard McGill tell him. "So are you in or out?"

"I'm out," I heard Shane say, which surprised me. Shane had always gone along with McGill in everything.

As Alex and I approached the last hallway before the lobby Shane came out of the hallway in front of us. He was still in his hockey gear as he walked by us toward the locker room.

Before Alex or I could say anything though I heard my Dad's voice.

"Nice job out there today son," my dad told me.

"Thanks Dad." I told him trying to act happy. Unfortunately I knew the next question before he even said it.

"Did you make the team?" he asked.

"Yeah, he did," Alex said behind me, speaking up first. Given that I couldn't provide a position, I was thankful for the interruption. "Second line center," she told him.

"Well, that's not too bad," my Dad said even though I could hear the disappointment in his voice. "How did you do Alex?"

"First line center," Alex told him. I was glad to hear that. If it had been McGill who had gotten first line center I would have felt worse about it but I didn't mind losing my position to Alex. Besides, she was good. She deserved it.

"Congratulations," my Dad told her.

"Thank-you, Mr. Banks," Alex said cheerfully.

"Hey Dad, could I go over to Alex's house for dinner tonight. We haven't seen each other in awhile and it isn't a school night."

"Your parents would be okay with it?" my Dad asked Alex.

"Yeah, they won't mind. In fact my Mom has been getting on my case about inviting some of my friends over. She says I need to get back to being a kid."

"Well, then its okay with me," my Dad said much to my relief. "Just call when you're ready to come home and I'll come and get you," he told me.

"Thanks Dad," I told him relieved that I wouldn't have to sit through another dinner at my house tonight.

With that my Dad left he ice arena and headed to where he parked the car. Alex and I followed him out of the building. Mr Paris was parked along the curb waiting for Alex.

"Hi, Dad, look who I convinced to have dinner with us tonight," Alex told him as she climbed into the car beside him.

"Hi, Adam. Long time no see," Mr. Paris told me giving me a smile as I climbed into the back seat of the car.

"Hi Mr. Paris," I told him suddenly feeling shy. I don't know why. I had spent a lot of time over at Alex's house growing up. Sometimes their place felt more like home than my own house did. Still, I hadn't been around them in awhile and I know the family had been through a lot the last year.


	5. Texas Game

Note: Hey everyone. No your eyes don't deceive you, I'm actually updating this story. Banskiesbabe99, sorry to hear you don't like Alex but she's here to stay, sorry. Thanks for your review. And also thanks to Beaner, crazy4nc129 and anne918 for reviewing too.  
  
Dwayne's POV:  
The buzzer sounded signaling another goal. Around me my teammates were celebrating and congratulating me on the goal. We were now ahead 4-0. Three of those goals were mine but I didn't feel excited about it and I couldn't explain why. I put a smile on my face for the benefit of my teammates but it was a fake smile.  
I looked up at the clock. We still had two minutes left in the game. The game was ours but we all knew our coach wanted to keep it as a shut out so we couldn't let down. Taking my eyes off of the clock I headed to center ice for the next face off.  
We were able to keep the shut out. Around me I could hear the shouting and excited voices of my teammates and our fans in the stand. I couldn't help but wonder why I didn't feel the excitement they felt. We had just won our first game of the season. I had just scored three of the four goals for my team. There was a time when I would have been ecstatic but now I just didn't feel it.  
I ended up leading my teammates to the locker room. Personally I was just happy to finally be getting off the ice. I quickly showered and changed into my street clothes. I could hear the conversations going on around me as my teammates made plans to hang out and celebrate the win. Like usual none of them even asked me to join them. I was once again the invisible teammate. It seemed like the only time they ever noticed me was when I scored a point for them.  
I grabbed my stuff and headed out of the locker room. I only got about two steps out of the door when my sister, Roxanne, threw her arms around me. The surprise hug threw me a little bit off balance but I managed to keep my feet. "You were great tonight, Dwayne," she told me enthusiastically. "I'm so proud of you."  
For the first time all night I started to feel a little bit of excitement over the game and my goals. What Roxanne thought about me meant a lot to me. Whenever I was trying to make a decision about whether or not to do something I always asked myself what Roxanne would think about my decision. If I didn't think Roxanne would approve than I knew it was a bad choice. That might sound stupid to you but my sister meant that much to me. Call it a twin thing if you want or maybe its just because that I feel that Roxanne is the only one who really understands me.  
"Thanks, Roxy," I replied a genuine smile coming to my face.  
"Let's go get some ice-cream to celebrate," she suggested. I knew she had come to the game with Jon, Bill, and Andrea so I just assumed that she was including them and I really didn't want to hang out with a bunch of people tonight.  
"Um, I don't really feel like hanging out with a lot of people," I told her knowing she would understand without asking too many questions. At least not right now.  
"Who said anything about a lot of people. Just the two of us. Come on. We haven't done a lot of stuff together since you got back from L.A."  
"Okay," I finally agreed. When she put it that way how could I resist. Roxanne was right. We hadn't spent much time together since I came back and I had to admit that I missed spending time with her.  
"Great," she said and put her arms around my shoulders. Together we walked out of the ice arena.  
My parents were outside on the curb waiting for us in the car. I put my stuff in the back seat next to Nicole while Roxanne told my parents where we were planning on going.  
"Okay, Have fun," my Mom told us waving as my Dad pulled the car away from the curve. We waved back and then started the walk to the ice cream parlor.  
  
It being a Saturday night, Roxanne and I stayed out late. It was almost midnight by the time the cab dropped us off in front of our house. We could see the light on in the living room where our parents were waiting up for us.  
"Hi Mom, hi Dad," we both said as we walked into the house. They were sitting next to each other on the couch watching a movie.  
"Hi guys," Dad answered back.  
"Did you have fun?" Mom asked.  
"Yeah, I did," I said and for once I wasn't pretending. I actually did have fun hanging out with Roxanne.  
"What are you watching?" Roxanne asked sitting down in the armchair. On Friday and Saturday nights my parents didn't care how late we stayed up just as long as they knew where we were at.  
"Dirty Dancing," my Mom told her.  
"Good night everyone," I said heading for the stairs.  
"Night Dwayne," I heard three voices say.  
I trudged upstairs to my room. I saw my hockey bag and stick sitting in the one corner. My mother or father must have brought it upstairs for me when they got home. I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer. After logging onto the internet I got into my email and was glad to see a message there. I looked at the sender and saw that it was from Adam.  
I was happy to hear that he and the Ducks were getting along better and that Adam was at least going to school with them. Between Adam and Charlie I had finally figured out exactly what had taken place earlier this week and that when I had sent Charlie the email he hadn't known exactly what I was talking about but had figured it out. When I found out about that I had emailed Charlie and apologized for the email as I realized that it probably sounded a bit harsh and Charlie had sort of brushed the apology off for which I was thankful.  
I opened the email from Adam and read through it quickly. It was basically about tryouts the afternoon before. As I read about his teammate's reaction to him being back I couldn't help but think how lucky I was. Maybe my teammates didn't go out of their way to include me in things off ice but at least I never felt unwanted out on the ice. Though he didn't say it I knew that Adam was wishing he hadn't made the team or that he was back with the Ducks. I couldn't blame him for the last part. I was wishing I was back with the Ducks a lot lately myself.  
At the end of the email Adam did mention that he had one friend on the team - Alex. It took me awhile to realize that he was actually talking about a girl. Despite the fact that I could tell Adam was miserable I couldn't help but feel just a little bit envious. I mean after all, Adam at least had one teammate who he was friends with. Besides my sister I didn't really even have any friends in Austin let alone on my team.  
I wrote a reply to him, telling him about the game tonight. I tried to keep the email upbeat. I didn't need to be bringing him down with my mood when he had enough problems of his own. After I hit the send button, I turned off the computer and climbed in bed. It took me quite awhile to fall asleep though. 


	6. Ducks first game

AN: Surprise I'm back! I finally got inspiration for this story again. Actually I have to thank C-chan96 for getting me back into this story. I read the start of Fallen, which is the first Mighty Ducks fic I've read in awhile and got inspired to come back to this story. I hope everyone who started reading this story will come back as I plan to try and keep updating this one along with the other stories I've been working on.

* * *

Adam's POV:

I headed for the locker room after practice very slowly. It was only Thursday afternoon. After four days of practice I was sore. There wasn't a part of me that didn't ache. As I had expected McGill and his friends were making things hard on me. I gave up counting the number of times any of them had checked me five minutes into practice on Monday.

Around me, my teammates quickly got changed and left. I took my time. Besides being sore I wasn't exactly looking forward to going home either. I was trying to steer clear of my dad as much as possible these days as I figured that was the safest course of action. I was sick of pretending that practices were going great and I was having fun. That I wanted to be on the Hawks.

But that was what my father wanted to hear. He didn't want to hear how I really felt. He wouldn't care that I was miserable. That I was starting to hate hockey.

The Ducks had there first game tonight and I wanted to go. I also knew there was no way my Dad would let me go. He was still insistent that I didn't talk to them on the phone or hang out with them after school. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had gone to my school and tried to get me into classes that none of the Ducks were in.

Finally though, I couldn't put it off any longer. I was back in my street clothes and my stuff was either in my locker or in my bag to go home. It was time to leave the safety of the locker room and face my dad.

Picking up my bag, I slung it over one shoulder and slowly made my way to the door.

"There you are," I heard Alex say as I came out of the locker room. She was standing across from the door, leaning up against the wall. Her stick was leaning up against the wall next to her and her hockey bag sat on the floor. "I was beginning to think you had found another way out of the locker room."

"I couldn't be that lucky," I replied trying to smile and failing. There wasn't much to smile about lately. "What are you still doing here?"

"Waiting for you."

"Oh really," I said finally smiling. I knew she was giving me a hard time on purpose.

"Do you have any plans tonight?" she asked me as she picked her stuff up. The two of us started walking toward the front door.

"No, why?"

"Do you want to do something together?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise," she told me. I looked over at her to see a mischievous smile on her face. I knew she was up to something but I also knew her well enough to know that unless I agreed to go with her she wasn't going to tell me what she was up to.

"I'll ask my Dad?" I told her curious. I wanted to know what she was up to and no matter what it was it would be better than hanging around the house. Anything was better than that lately. I just hoped that my Dad would let me go.

As we walked outside though I found my Mom waiting for me and not my Dad which was unusual. My Dad always picked me up from practice, stopping by on his way home from work.

"Where's Dad?" I asked her as I opened the passenger side back door to put my hockey gear inside.

"Working late," she told me. "Hi Alex," she said as she noticed Alex standing behind me.

"Mom, do you mind if I hang out with Alex tonight?" I asked her.

"My Dad can drop him off later tonight," Alex said from behind me.

"Homework?"

"Already done," I told her honestly as I only had an English assignment that night -reading a chapter in the book we were reading. I had done that on the bus this afternoon.

"Then I guess its okay," Mom said. "Have fun."

"Thanks Mom," I told her shutting the car door. It would be nice to get away from the house for a little while.

Alex and I walked down the sidewalk a little bit to where Alex's Dad waited in his car.

"I see you convinced him to go along with you tonight?" Mr. Paris commented as Alex and I got into the car.

"I'm still not sure what it is she's dragging me along to." I commented as he pulled the car away from the curb.

"Don't worry I'm positive you're going to enjoy yourself tonight. First though the three of us are having pizza for dinner."

After dinner at a local pizza shop, Mr. Paris drove us to where Alex was taking me tonight. It didn't take me long to realize where I was. After all I had spent plenty of time here last season. We were at the rink where the Ducks practiced. Where they were playing there first game of the season this year against the cardinals.

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea," I said.

"Don't worry, Adam. If your parents ever ask me where I dropped the two of you off you saw a movie. I know how your Dad feels. Believe me all the parents of the Hawks know exactly how your Dad feels. However, not all of us agree with him."

"What if someone else sees us?"

"Who else is going to come to this game that we know," Alex said as she got out of the car. "Just relax."

With a sigh I got out of the car. After all I really did want to see the game. I wanted to be there to support my friends.

Alex and I went inside the ice arena and found some seats. She was right, other than the parents of the Ducks, I didn't recognize anyone at the game and I knew none of them would tell my father I was there. That was if my father would even talk to them if they tried to tell him.

"Why did you come?" I asked Alex as the game started.

"I'm checking out the competition," Alex told me. I could tell she was messing with me. That checking out the Ducks or the Cardinals wasn't why she was here. "Besides I knew you'd want to see your friends play and that your Dad wasn't going to let you come. This way he doesn't have to know where you were."

"Thanks Alex," I told her.

"Anytime," she said. "Now how about we actually pay attention to this game."

Charlie's POV:

It took the Cardinals exactly two minutes to score the first point of the game. As I watched the puck slide by Goldberg I couldn't help but feel disappointed. The whole team had felt good about this game. Had felt ready for this game despite the fact that we were missing Adam. Evidently we weren't as ready as we thought we were.

"That's okay," I heard Bombay shout from the box. "It's just one goal. We can get it back."

"Easy for him to say," Peter muttered as he skated by me.

Great. Two minutes into the game and our team spirit was already going the way of the dodo. If things kept going this way, this was going to be a long game.

I took center ice for the next face-off. I was determined to win this face off. To make an attack on the Cardinals goal.

It didn't happen. As the referee blew his whistle I found myself sitting on the ice, the puck in possession of the Cardinals.

Frustrated, I got to my feet and headed toward our goal. We couldn't let them have another goal. A loss was not the way for the defending champions to start out the new season.

One of the cardinals took a shot at the goal, but Goldberg slapped the puck away. The puck sailed across the ice to the boards, where Connie picked it up.

"Way to go Goldberg," I heard a shout. It hadn't come from Gordon although it sounded familiar. I didn't think it was possible that it was who I thought it was though.

I didn't have time to check the stands though, as Connie passed the puck over to me. Getting a hold of the puck, I headed down ice with it. I saw a cardinal coming toward me and quickly passed the puck off to Fulton. Fulton took control of the Puck and headed for the goal. He took a shot at the goal but one of the defenders intercepted the puck.

Once again when we were chasing the puck down to our end of the ice. The game continued like that. We'd have the puck for awhile and then the other team would get a hold of it. When Bombay called me off the ice I was more than ready for the break.

I got off the ice as Jesse joined the game. I took off the helmet and grabbed my water bottle. As I took a drink, I turned around and looked into the stands looking for someone. To my surprise I saw him about midway up sitting with the lone girl on the Hawks team.

The fact that Adam was in the stands surprised me. I knew there was no way his Dad had let him come.

"Hey Guy, check out who came," I said elbowing Guy.

Guy turned his head to look where I was pointing.

"I thought he said he wasn't going to be able to make it."

"Guess he figured out a way to come," I told him.

"Who is up there?" Connie asked.

"Adam," Guy told her.

"Cool," Connie said.

"Charlie you're back in," Bombay called down to me.

I quickly grabbed my helmet and as Peter climbed off the ice I got back out there. Goldberg knocked away another attempt by the Cardinals and Karp got a hold of the puck. He headed my way with it. Once he got close enough he passed it off to me. As a cardinal got in my way, I passed the puck off to Jesse. Skating pass the cardinal player, I tried to get open should Jesse need to pass off the puck.

Soon, I found myself open with a perfect shot at the goal.

"Jesse, over here," I called out hitting the ice with my stick.

Jesse shot the puck over to me, and I took my shot at the goal. The puck flew past the goalie's glove and right into the goal. We had managed to tie the game back up.

My teammates congratulated me as we headed back to center ice. Before the next face off, I pointed out Adam in the stands to Jesse and Fulton. Suddenly we were all feeling a little bit more positive about the game.


	7. Friday

AN: Okay, its another short chapter, but I wanted to give you guys an update. Glad to see people are happy to see me back. Thanks to Queen of the Cakeeaters, kel, and Banksiesbabe 99 for the reviews. Hope you like this chapter!

Charlie's POV:

"You coming inside?" Guy asked as he and Connie walked hand in hand up the front steps of the school on Friday morning.

I glanced up from where I was sitting on the front steps of the school building. We still had time before the first bell rang and despite the cold breeze I would still rather be outside the school than inside of it.

"I'm going to wait for Adam," I told him.

"Okay. Catch you later," Guy said as he and Connie continued into the building.

I watched as my two friends disappeared into the building. The game had ended up in a 4-4 tie the night before. Not exactly the outcome we had wanted but it wasn't a lost and we had tried our best and after a sloppy beginning had played well. It was a solid start to the season.

However, in the back of my mind I couldn't shake the thought that if Adam had still been with us, then the outcome of the game would have been different. The Cardinals wouldn't have stood a chance. Whether or not any of us chose to admit it or not, Adam did make a big difference to our team. That's not to say we can't win without him, just that we stand a better chance with him.

The sound of Adam's bus pulling up in front of the school, brought me out of my thoughts. I stood up and waited for Adam to get off the bus.

"Hey Adam," I said as he walked over to me. "I was surprised to see you at the game last night. How did you get your Dad to let you come?"

"He didn't exactly let me," Adam told me as he joined me.

"Did you sneak out again?" I asked him as we started up the steps and into the school.

"Not exactly. Alex asked me to hang out with her last night and it was her idea to go to the game. My parents didn't know exactly what it was we were doing however I'm not completely sure but I think my Dad might suspect something," Adam told me.

"Why do you say that?" I asked as we stopped by my locker. I opened the locker and started switching books, making sure I had the ones I needed for the morning classes.

"He left this for me this morning," Adam said. I glanced over at him to see him holding the local newspaper. On the front page, was a picture of the Ducks from the game last night.

'Mighty Ducks tie Cardinals in Season Opener.'

"Not exactly being subtle is he."

"You can say that again," muttered Adam as we left my locker and headed for his locker. "I really wanted to be out there with you guys last night."

I heard the longing in his voice. Any doubts I had about what team he wanted to be with this season disappeared.

"You were Adam, in spirit. You're apart of this team now and nothing the PeeWee Hockey League or you father does is going to change that."

"Thanks Charlie," Adam said as he opened up his locker.

"Hawks play tonight don't they?"

"Yeah, we're playing the Jets. You going to be there?" he asked me as he closed the door of his locker.

"Definitely," I told him, as the first bell rang and we headed toward our home room.

_At the game:_

"I'll pick you up later," Mom said as I got out of the car in front of the rink.

"Okay Mom, thanks," I told her as I put the hood of my jacket up against the wind. I closed the car door and headed toward the rink.

As I walked into the rink I scanned the stands for my friend. Fulton and Jesse were both definitely suppose to be here tonight. We had decided to just meet inside, as the stands for the Hawks games tended to fill quickly.

It didn't take me long to spot them near the top of the stands on the Jets side of the arena. Although we were actually suppose to be here to support Adam, who was on the Hawk team, I could see that my friends were thinking like me. None of us wanted to be seen in the Hawks stands. We were probably safer up with the Jets fans anyway.

"Hey Charlie," Jesse said as I joined him and Fulton.

"Hi guys," I said sitting down next to Fulton as the two teams scatted out onto the ice.

I saw Adam looking up at the Jets stands looking for us. When I saw him looking in our direction I waved to him. He gave me a quick wave and then joined in on the Hawks warm ups.

"Good we didn't miss anything," I heard Connie say. I looked away from the ice to see her and Guy walking up the steps toward us.

"I thought you guys were going to the movies tonight?" I asked as she and Guy sat down in front of us.

"Changed our minds," Guy said. "We figured we can catch the movie tomorrow."

Before any of us could say anything else I heard another familiar voice behind us.

"Mind if I join you guys?"

I looked up and back to see Coach Bombay walking down from the top of the stands. I was more surprised to see him than I was to see Connie and Guy.

"Hey coach," my friends and I said together as Jesse, Fulton, and I all scooted down to make room for him.

"Who would of thought we'd all be rooting for the Hawks this season," Bombay commented as he sat down.

I don't know what it was about the comment but suddenly all the tension of the whole situation disappeared as we all laughed at Gordon's comment. Maybe this night wouldn't be so bad after all.

tbc: next chapter will be the game itself!


	8. Hawks vs Jets

AN: Yes it's back. I've gotten the inspiration to write some Mighty Ducks fics here lately so I figured I'd attempt to finish this one. If any of my old readers are still out their, hope you enjoy the new chapter and there will be more soon and as promised this chapter has the game between the Hawks and the Jets.

* * *

Gordon's POV: 

I hadn't mentioned it to the Ducks, but I planned on going to all the Hawks games this season. I figured it was the least I could do. Adam might be back in black this season, but in spirit he was still a Duck, district lines and team colors aside.

So when I walked into the rink the night of the Hawks opening game, I was mildly surprised to see Charlie, Fulton, Jesse, Connie and Guy. I had been planning on sitting in the Hawks stands but when I spotted them up in the Jets side of the arena, I headed on over to join them.

"Mind if I join you guys?" I asked as I walked down the steps to where they were sitting.

The kids looked up at the sound of my voice. All of them looked surprised to see me.

"Hey coach," they all said as Jesse, Fulton, and Charlie all slid over to give me room on the bench next to them.

As I sat down, I sensed the tension in the air. I know the preseason events and the beginning of this season hadn't been easy on any of us. I could see the tension between the two groups, those who had gone to the Jr. Goodwill Games and those who hadn't. The situation with Adam wasn't helping that at all. Tammy, Tommy, Peter and Karp weren't as close to Adam as the others were now. The fact that he wasn't on the team didn't seem to bother them much which I think was hard on the others, especially Charlie and Jesse who had gotten closer to Adam than any of the others.

"Who would of thought we'd all be rooting for the Hawks this season," I commented to them as I sat down trying to break the tension. It seemed to work as all of the kids laughed.

We all got quiet as the starting line-ups from each team took the ice. I was surprised not to see Adam in the Hawks starting line-up. Riley was stupid not to use him. Adam was one of the best players in the league.

I did notice that Riley had a girl starting as center which surprised me. Riley had always been opposed to girls playing hockey. Didn't think it was a sport for them. That must have been one hell of a fight for the girl and her family which that in itself said something about the girl.

She hadn't been playing in the league last year, so I hadn't seen her play. I was curious to see just how good she was, although she had to have some talent for Riley to be starting her. I noted her name and number, Paris number 4, as I wanted to check into her stats. I knew how well most of the starting Hawks played, she would be the one I needed to do my homework on before the Ducks played the Hawks in a couple of weeks.

As soon as the puck hit the ice, Paris had control of it. She quickly made her way around the Jets center with the puck and then passed it off to Larson on her left. It appeared as if the Hawks hadn't missed a beat from last year. It didn't take them long at all to get the puck down near the Jets goal.

The Jets goalie was ready for them though, easily batting away the three shots that the Hawks offense got off on him. On the fourth attempt at a goal, the goalie caught the puck Paris had sent toward the net in his glove, dropped it to the ice, and sent it to Montgomery, one of the Jets defense player.

The Jets were able to clear the puck from their zone. The Hawks defense wasn't as efficient as the offense had been. The Jet players easily got past them for a shot on the goal which the Hawk goalie was just able to barely bat away. As the puck slid up to the blue line, Paris got a hold of it and headed toward the Jets zone with it.

"The Hawks offense doesn't look so hot this year, does it Coach," Charlie commented from beside me.

I was a bit surprised that he had picked that up so quickly although maybe I shouldn't have been. Even though he had skated in our final game against Iceland for the Goodwill Games he had still proven to be invaluable. Charlie was a good hockey player, but he was no star. He tried hard and I could even see him making it in the minors. I didn't think he would ever make it pro though. His strength was in coaching the game not playing it. He had proven that to me real well at the Goodwill Games. Still I knew he loved to play the game, and that love a determination to play well was going to get him pretty far although he lacked the natural talent that players like Banks had.

"No it doesn't Charlie. It looks as if that's their Achilles heal this year."

"Of course we're going to have to get the puck off of their offense to be able to exploit that weakness in the game against them."

"I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out between now and then Charlie," I said clasping his shoulder.

Around us the crowd started cheering as the Jets scored a goal against the Hawks. Looking toward the benches, I saw Riley in his box. Although I couldn't make out his face from where he was, I could just imagine the scowl he had on his face right about now.

At the end of the second period the score was 4-0 in favor of the Jets. Although the Hawks offense could get the puck down to the Jets goal they just couldn't seem to get it past the Jets goalie. As for the Hawks defense, the further they got behind the worse they were playing. I had yet to see Adam out on the ice.

"Think they're going to play him coach?" Fulton asked from the other side of Charlie, while the two teams were in the locker room during the break between periods.

"Riley's a fool not to," Connie chimed in turning around to face us. "The Hawks are getting beat big time." I didn't miss the satisfaction in her voice as she said that. Given the grief the Ducks had always taken from the Hawks it didn't surprise me none that she was enjoying seeing them lose. The other kids probably felt the same way.

"I think Riley will put him in sometime next period if for no other reason than not to hear Mr. Banks complain about it," I told them. "Although I have to agree Connie has a point. Riley should have put him in already, seeing as his current offense can't seem to score against the Jets."

I felt the cell phone in my pocket vibrate.

"I'll be right back," I told the kids standing up. As I headed to the walkway up above the stands I started fishing the phone out of my pocket. Looking down at it, I didn't recognize the number that came up. I found a quiet corner and flipped the phone open.

"Hello."

"Is this Coach Gordon Bombay?" a slightly familiar voice asked.

"Yes, this is he. Can I help you?"

"This is Trent Robertson. My son Dwayne played on your hockey team during the Junior Goodwill Games."

"Yes, of course. How's Dwayne doing?" I asked a little concern. I was trying to figure out why Dwayne's dad would be calling me and was hoping nothing had happen.

"He's fine. His team won their first two games," Mr. Robertson told me. "Actually, hockey is the reason I wanted to call you. My company is transferring me temporarily to Minneapolis. My wife and I have discussed it, and we've decided to move the whole family up their for the duration. I was hoping to get Dwayne on a team in your league so he can at least keep playing hockey. I figured if their were any teams that I might be able to get him on then I could have my real estate agent look for places for us within those districts."

"Well I know the Ducks have an empty spot on our roster this year. I'm not sure about the other teams. I've got the leagues number at home, How about I give you a call in about an hour and give it to you and you can talk directly to them. You'll be able to reach someone between twelve and four tomorrow with it being a Saturday."

"That would be great. Thank-you."

"Okay, I'll talk to you then. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone, and put it back in my pocket. As I rejoined the kids the third period was underway.

"Did I miss anything?" I asked Charlie as I sat down next to him.

"Other than Riley actually has Adam out there, not much," Charlie replied.

I sat down, I searched the ice for Adam. It didn't take me long to spot him, his old number 9 back on the black jersey. They were about mid ice, the Hawks offense trying to get the puck back off the Jets right wing. As the right wing tried to pass it to the Jets center, Adam intercepted it and headed toward the Jets goal with it.

Coming up on a Jets defense man, Adam passed it off to Larson. The two managed to get the puck down into their attack zone, without a Jet player getting back a hold of it. Then the other Hawk offense player, Gallagher, was able to block one of the Jets defense players, giving Adam a clear shot of the goal. On the ice Larson, who had the puck, saw it too. He passed the puck to Adam, who received the pass and took his shot. For the first time that night the puck sailed into the Jets goal.

"Yes!" I exclaimed happy to see Adam score.

"Alright Adam," Charlie and his friends yelled from beside me. I saw a few of the Jets fans cast glances our way and then went back to watching the game as the players gathered center ice to start the next play.

In the end, the Hawks lost their first game of the season 5-3. Adam scored a second goal and Paris was able to get a shot past the Jet goalie.

"Anyone want a ride home?" I asked the kids. I thought about going down and trying to find Adam to congratulate him on his goals but figured I'd probably run into Philip Banks. That was one scene I wanted to avoid at this point and time.

"My Dad's picking Guy and me up," Connie said. "We should probably head out front. See ya at practice tomorrow coach."

She and Guy disappeared into the crowd of people who were leaving. I looked back at the other three.

"Sure," Charlie said simply.

"Beats walking," was Jesse's reply. Beside him Fulton just nodded.

"Okay than lets go," I told them, remembering that I still had to call Mr. Robertson back with the phone number I promised him.

The four of us headed out of the arena and toward the parking lot. I dropped the three kids off and then headed home to call Dwayne's father.


	9. Breaking the News

Dwayne's POV:

I was surprised to see my Dad's car in the driveway when my ride dropped me off at my house after hockey practice on Monday afternoon. He was never home before six o'clock at night. Curious, I walked a little faster toward the house.

"Dwayne is that you?" my mom's voice came floating in from the living room.

"Yeah it is."

"Can you come join us please?"

Wondering what was going on, I dropped my stuff on the floor in the hallway, and headed toward the livingroom. My whole family was there. Mom and Dad were sitting in the two easy chairs. They had moved them so the were both sitting facing the couch. Both of my sisters were sitting on the couch. They both looked as lost as I felt.

"What's going on?" I ventured as I sat down in between Roxanne and Nicole. I looked up at my parents to see them looking at each other. Clearly whatever it was they had to tell us was bad news.

"Well someone say something," Roxanne said beside me keeping me from having to say it.

"I think you should tell them," Mom said to my father.

"Okay," my father said.

Right about this time I was sick of the suspense. I wanted to know what news would possible have my Dad home before five o'clock in the afternoon. 'Just spit it out', I wanted to yell at them, but I restrained myself knowing that it wouldn't help much.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news kids," he started. "My company is temporarily transferring me. They want me in Minneapolis to straighten out some things out in their research and development department there. It should only be for about a year."

"So where moving?" Nicole ventured.

"Your mother and I have discussed the alternatives. We discussed me going alone and keeping you guys in school here and then you all join me this summer. However, in the long run we decided that Minneapolis is too far away and that we should keep the family together. So, we plan on either closing up this house, or putting it up as a rental for the year, and renting a place in Minneapolis."

"I don't want to move. How am I suppose to make friends part way into the school year. What about my friends here and the plans we've made. Shelly is planning a huge sleep over birthday party at the end of the month. You told me I could go."

"We'll see about getting you back down here for that weekend," Mom told her gently.

"Believe me this wasn't my choice," my father said looking at first Roxanne and then me. I guess he was waiting for one us to start protesting. "I tried to talk my way out of it. To get them to send one of the guys without a family but they're insisting that it be me. This is my career guys I can't just walk away from it and get a knew job just like that," he said snapping his fingers. " I know this isn't going to be easy but we need to do this as a family. I need you to do this for me."

"And it's only for a year?" Roxanne ventured.

"Just for a year. I had the company put it in writing for me. This time next year we'll be back here in this house. We'll probably even get you guys settled at the end of August down here so you can start the school year here and I'll finish the last few weeks up in Minneapolis alone."

"I guess it won't be so bad then," Roxanne said ever the sensible one.

"Dwayne you've been kind of quiet," Mom ventured looking at me.

"What's there to say. Its not like your asking our opinion or anything. Besides, I don't want Dad in one state and us in another, " I said not exactly sure what to say. Part of me didn't really mind. I hadn't been happy here lately in Austin anyway. Sure I'd miss playing hockey but I could deal without it for a year and if Dad went alone I'd miss him. Besides, Minneapolis was where Charlie and the other Ducks came from. I could probably at least hang out with them from time to time if I didn't get lucky enough to be in the same school as them. "Not playing hockey for a year is worth it if it means we can all stay together."

"Actually you won't have to give up hockey," my Dad told me. I looked over at him. "I talked to the Minneapolis Pee Wee League and they have several teams this year that still have an open spot. As long as we find a place to stay in one of those districts then you can join that team. Now its nothing definite yet, but I do have the company real estate agent looking for something in the District five area so you can actually be with the Ducks. Its not definite yet though," my Dad warned me.

I nodded my understanding. That was great news. I just hoped the real-estate agent came through.

"When will we go?" Roxanne asked.

"Well the company wants me up there to start next Wednesday. If we found a place by then, your mother and you three kids will come down next weekend."

"Can I be excused now," Nicole asked. I could tell she wasn't happy about it.

"Go ahead," Dad consented.

"Dinner will be ready in about a half an hour honey," Mom called after her. Nicole didn't even answer. She just kept walking. My mom sighed and then stood up. "I guess I might as well go start dinner," she said as she started out of the living room.

"I'll help you," Roxanne volunteered standing up. That left my Dad and me alone.

"I'm not trying to ruin you kids' life," my father said.

"We know that Dad. Its just going to take a little while for the girls to get use to the idea."

"And what about you?"

"To be honest Dad, I don't really care. I mean, I don't have any real good friends here in Austin. Yeah, I'm chummy with my Hockey team and I hang out with Alex and her friends but that's the thing, they're Alex's friends."

"Is that what's been bothering you since you came back from California? Your mother said she thought something was bothering you."

"The Junior Goodwill Games gave me a taste of what real friendship was not just having people you hang out with so yeah I guess I've been missing my friends."

"Well, I'll do everything I can to get you on with the Ducks in Minneapolis. Someone might as well benefit from this move but I want you to help your sisters adjust to this move Dwayne. I think it will be easiest on you."

"I will Dad."

"Good. Now why don't you go get cleaned up for dinner," Dad said knowing that I usually just changed after hockey practice and then showered when I got home.

I nodded and headed upstairs, grabbing my gear on the way upstairs. I took a quick shower and glanced on my walk. I should have a few minutes before dinner was ready, just enough time to check my email. I switched on my computer and sat down.

I had two emails - one from Adam and one from Dean. I clicked on the one from Dean first.

_-hey Cowboy,_

_How's school been treating you? The hockey season? My team is undefeated so far__this season. We have two shut-outs and won the other game 8-2. Looks like its going to be__a fun season. Not to mention, winning gold at the Junior Goodwill Games has its perks. The__girls here are throwing themselves at me, well that isn't entirely new but there are more of them__now. There is this really cute one that I'm interested in. We're going to the movies aturday__night. I'll let you know how that goes._

_School's okay. Have only gotten one detention so far this year, which for me is real__good. Its making my parents happy. Speaking of parents, Mom is calling me for dinner. Catch__ya later Cowboy._

I had to laugh at that email. It was so Dean. I clicked on the reply and started a quick email to him. I figured I'd tell him about the upcoming move and everything as I wanted to tell someone, but wasn't ready to mention it to the Ducks in Minneapolis yet. I guess I wanted to know for sure what was going to happen, what team I was going to end up on, before I told them the news.

I was sending the message to Dean when my Mom called that dinner was ready. Adam's email was going to have to wait until after dinner.


	10. Outside the flock

_Hey Adam,_

_That's great news about the two goals you scored in the game. Your coach was_

_stupid not to put you in the game more. You guys probably would have won the game if_

_he had. Just keep remembering that hockey is suppose to be fun too no matter what your_

_coach says. _

_Things here are about the same. Hockey practice today was kind of grueling. The _

_coach had us doing a lot of laps and sprints. Kind of reminded me of Bombay when we _

_nickname him "Captain Blood". Not the most fun but I guess it is necessary sometimes._

_We have another game tomorrow afternoon. It's against the team that we lost the_

_championship to last year. Needless to say we really want to beat them this time around._

_Both our teams are undefeated thus far in the season so this game means a lot to both of_

_us. I expect the stands to be packed even though it is a Tuesday game._

_School is going okay. I have this oral presentation for history to give on Friday._

_I'm actually suppose to be working on it now but needless to say it isn't getting done._

_The books I got from the library to do the research are sitting right next to me on the_

_desk but I'm putting off actually opening them. History isn't exactly my favorite subject_

_and I enjoy oral presentation about as much a I enjoy losing a hockey game. Writing this_

_email was much more appealing to me._

_How are the other Ducks doing? I heard they tied their first game. Charlie sent_

_me a quick email to tell me that. I haven't heard from any of the others though. Have _

_they played their second game yet? How's Fulton adjusting to being the only bash_

_brother? Are Connie and Guy still together? Averman say anything particularly funny_

_lately? I never thought I would say this, but I'm starting to miss his ongoing comedy_

_routine._

_Hope to hear from you soon._

_Dwayne_

Adam's POV:

Reading Dwayne's email was a nice escape from reality for awhile. I needed that after the awful Hawk's practice I had just gone through. We played the Panthers tomorrow and then the game I was dreading was Saturday. Hawks vs. Ducks.

I was currently blaring my music to drown out the sound of my parents yelling. They were having yet another fight over me being in public school. Part of me just wanted to give in and tell my Dad that I would go back to my old school just to make him happy. To stop the arguments. In the end though, the only thing it would accomplish was me not being able to see Charlie and my other friends at all.

Since the end of the school year I had only managed to sneak out to meet up with them after school one time. Charlie and Jesse had both tried to convince me to join them a bunch of other times but I had declined, usually telling them that I had to do my homework or something. Truth was, I just didn't want to take the chance of crossing my father.

I glanced at the clock on the bedside table. 5:00. I wonder how Dwayne's game was going. It should have just about been over. I looked at the blank area on the computer screen waiting for me to compose my reply. Somehow, I just didn't feel like writing it.

With a click I closed the browser and turned off the computer. I needed to get out of the house. I slowly reached over and turned down the volume of the radio. I listened for the sound of my parents yelling. When I didn't hear them, I turned the radio off all together.

Grabbing my roller skates, I ventured downstairs. As long as I didn't run into my Dad, I shouldn't have any problem with getting out of the house. Stepping lightly off the last step, I glanced around what I could see of the first floor. My mom's voice came drifting from the direction of the kitchen. She was probably talking with Maggie, the housekeeper. My eyes fell on the door to my Dad's den. The door was shut which meant he was inside. Getting out of the house shouldn't prove to be all that difficult.

I quietly made my way to the kitchen. Sure enough, my Mom was helping Maggie with the dinner preparations. My mom enjoyed cooking and would quite often help if not cook the meals in the house herself. She almost always retreated to the kitchen after a fight with my father.

"Mom," I said walking into the room. She looked up from the salad she was preparing as I continued, "I'm going to go skate around the neighborhood for a little while okay."

"That's fine," she said nodding. "Just be back by six. Dinner will be ready by then."

"Okay," I told her. I walked across the kitchen and out the side door not wanting to take the chance of running into my father by going by his den to get to the front door.

Outside, I sat down on the steps and put on my skates. Once they were laced, I headed down the driveway. I tried clearing my mind. To forget about everything that was going on. To just enjoy skating something that I couldn't do during hockey practice anymore. I was always worried about a cheap shot from McGill or one of the other players or from making some stupid mistake that Reilly would jump on.

It took awhile but I didn't finally manage to achieve the peace of mind that I had been searching for. That was until I started heading home and came across McGill , Foote, Murphy and Larson. They were the last people I wanted to see. I kept my head up and started skating past them, hoping they would leave me alone, but knowing it probably wouldn't happen.

"Hey look, it's the ugly duckling," McGill said as I approached them. It was something McGill had started the last week or so. He thought he was awfully clever coming up with it despite the fact that the ugly duckling had been a swan not a hawk and it was the ducks who hadn't wanted the ugly duckling around. For the most part, the Ducks had been supportive since the start of the season. Alex had pointed that out to him and told him to come up with something that had made sense. So far he hadn't.

"Where's the rest of the flock," Foote chimed in.

I kept skating but as I skated by McGill he reached a foot out and tripped me.

"Definitely belongs on district 5," Murphy chimed in. "He can't even skate."

I slowly got to my feet, my hands stinging. Looking down I could see the blood from the scrapes on the palm of my hands from where they had hit the sidewalk. I didn't even turn around. I didn't want to see the smirks on there face that I knew were there.

"I thought ducks stuck together," McGill taunted. "Where are they now."

I didn't respond. I was out numbered four to one anyway. I started to skate away again and felt someone shove me to the ground again. This time I managed to land in the grass which was a little softer of a landing. I quickly turned around expecting to McGill coming after me. Instead I heard another voice.

"Leave him alone," Alex said. Turning onto my back I saw her walking across the street.

"Oh look it's the other traitor."

"Want to make something of it," Alex told him coming to a stop right in front of him. Without skates, Alex only came up to McGill's shoulders. She still didn't look intimidated by him though. I notice the other three back up a little though.

"You know my father always told me not to hit girls," McGill said backing up a little. I couldn't keep the small smile off my face. McGill noticed and I could see it made him mad. I knew he just didn't want to mess with Alex again. "You know, my parents told me to be home tonight for a very important dinner so I think I'll just be going," he said backing up a little more.

"See you at the game tomorrow," Alex called after the retreating Hawks. When they were almost out of sight, Alex turned to me. I was untying my skates, planning to walk home at this point despite not having my shoes with me. "Adam, are you okay?" she asked kneeling down beside me.

"Yeah, just scraped my hands up a little," I told her. "I'm glad you came along when you did though."

"I really hate those goons," she said looking in the direction McGill and his pals had disappeared in. " I don't know why Shane keeps hanging out with them."

I chose not to comment. I knew Alex and Shane were still friends from what I had seen during practices. Not wanting to lose my only friend on the Hawks, I didn't want to say something about Shane Larson that might make Alex mad at me.

"Come on, I'll walk home with you," Alex told me helping me to my feet.

The crowd behind me went wild, as Larson put the puck into the net. I looked up at the score board as the score changed to 5 to 1 in favor of the Hawks. This game was going much better than our Friday night game even though I didn't have anyone in the stands cheering for me. The Ducks were playing at their rink against the Jets.

My mom hadn't wanted me to come today because of my scraped and bruised hands. She had been quite upset when I came in last night, and I had told her I had tripped on a rock. I wasn't about to tell her McGill had tripped me. It would just upset her more. Luckily Alex had contradicted my story.

Despite the pain I was determined to be here. I wasn't about to let McGill have the satisfaction of me not showing up. For once my Dad turned into an ally for me, as he told my Mom I would be fine. That it would build my character by playing hurt.

It was the middle of the second period and I had only played for about two minutes in the first period. Still, during those two minutes I had managed to score one of our five goals. I don't think that had made Reilly too happy and he had pulled me right after I made it and hadn't put me in since.

I watched the rest of the second period from the bench, probably one of the few people who weren't put into the game besides the back-up goalie. The Panthers quickly made a come back though ending the period 5-4.

Needless to say the talk Reilly gave us between periods wasn't too upbeat. He wasn't happy that the score was so close especially against last seasons last place team. If we didn't win this game practice tomorrow was going to be hell.

Two minutes into the second period and the Panthers had scored yet another goal now tying the game. I knew it didn't matter if we kept them from scoring another goal now unless we were able to score again. In Reilly's mind a tie was just as bad as a lose.

As the next play started, McGill got leveled by a Panther. He got to his feet although quite slowly, skating toward the bench as the Panther's offense attacked our goal. Their fans went wild as they scored yet another goal on us. I couldn't help but groan along with the rest of my teammates.

I saw Reilly run a hand through his hair even as McGill sat down on the bench. I could tell the hit had him rattled. I saw Reilly glance my way and quickly looked down at the ground.

"Banks, your in," Reilly called out.

Getting quickly over my surprise, I hoped over the boards and joined my teammates in the center for the face-off. Alex beat the Panther's center to the puck and knocked it in my direction. Getting a hold of the puck, I started toward the Panthers net. At the blue line, I passed the puck over to Larson as the Panther guarding him had went down. Taking advantage of the lack of coverage, Larson shot the puck toward the goal. It flew past the goalie's stick and into the goal, once again tying the game.

The Panther's won the next face off, but weren't able to capitalize as our defense got a hold of the puck. Before long, Larson, Paris and I were making yet another attack on the Panthers net. Paris took a shot which the goalie deflected. Grabbing the puck on the rebound I was able to score my second goal of the game. We were now back in the lead.

Reilly kept pulling me in and out of the third period. McGill was part way out of his gear, obviously done for the game.

With two minutes left to the game, I was back on the ice and taking the face-off. Beating the Panther's center to the puck I knocked it over to Larson on my left. Murphy and I headed down the ice with him. Passing the puck between us, we started running the time on the clock down. None of us wanted to lose. We were one up on the Panthers. If we could just keep the Panthers from getting the puck there would be no way they could win.

As I got the puck back from Larson, I wondered what the time on the clock was. I couldn't afford to look at the clock though as I dodge around a Panther giving me a open shot to the goal.

"Take the shot Adam," I heard Larson call from where he was on the ice.

I did, and watched as the puck went into the net giving me a hat trick for the game. As the crowd and team celebrated I looked up at the clock. We only had five seconds to the game left. Skating toward center ice I felt relief. It looked as if the game was ours unless we did something really stupid.

Facing the Panther center, I was more determined than ever to win the face-off. The puck dropped on the ice in front of us, and I quickly batted at it, successfully knocking the puck over to Larson on my left. Soon after the buzzer sounded indicating the end of the game. We had pulled it off. I found myself wondering how the Ducks did.

When I got home that night, the first thing I did was send Charlie a message asking him just that. Hopefully, I would get a reply by the time I went to bed that night.


	11. Build Up

Charlie's POV:

After the game, Bombay had taken us all out for pizza. He called it a victory dinner, but he probably would have taken us even if we hadn't won. When he dropped me off at my apartment, my mom was still at work which didn't surprise me. I knew she hadn't to work hard to support us, but I still got lonely when she wasn't there.

I went to my room and turned on my computer, hoping that someone had sent me an email. It would give me a reason to put off my homework.

_You have two messages_, was the message that greeted me. I clicked on my inbox to see who those messages were from.

One was from Adam. He simply wanted to know how our game had went. I sent him a quick reply that we had beat the Jets and asked how his game had went. I then checked out the second message that was from Dwayne.

_Charlie_

_My team here in Austin is still undefeated this season. We beat the Mustangs, who_

_we lost the championship to last year, yesterday afternoon. The game was very low _

_scoring as I made the one and only goal midway through the second period. It was a_

_good feeling beating them and it means that the Steers are still undefeated this season._

_Too bad I won't be skating for them the whole season._

_I wasn't going to say anything to anyone until I knew exactly when it was going_

_to happen, but I changed my mind. You're the second one I'm telling, as I've already_

_mentioned it to Adam. My Dad's company transferred him to Minneapolis. He started_

_there today. He's actually staying with Coach Bombay right now as the company's_

_real estate agent is still looking for a place for us. Looks, like I'll be finishing this season_

_with one of the team's in your league. What I didn't tell Adam was that Dad's having_

_the agent try and find a place for us in District 5 so I can skate with the Ducks! I guess_

_I didn't mention it to Adam because I didn't know how well he would take it. I know_

_he would much rather be skating with you guys than the Hawks. I'd appreciate it if_

_you didn't say anything to the others right away. I'd rather it be certain before_

_everyone knew._

_Well mom's calling me for dinner._

_Dwayne_

The second part of his letter had me excited. Bombay hadn't mentioned anything about it, although if Mr. Robertsonwas staying with Bombay, he had to know what was going on. I guess like Dwayne he didn't want to get everybody's hopes up. I knew it was going to be hard keeping the secret but I would do. I decided to send Dwayne a reply before starting my homework.

_Dwayne,_

_Congratulations on the win! _

_As for the move, I will keep it quiet. Let me know when you know when it is going_

_to happen though. If you have to move, At least you know people here in Minneapolis. Is_

_the transfer permanent? I sure do hope you're able to get in our District. It will be great_

_having you on the team. So far this season, we have one win and one tie. Not to bad of a_

_start. The big test comes on Saturday though. That's when we play the Hawks._

_Its going to weird playing against Adam again. That's if Reilly plays him. Some_

_of us went to the Hawk game last Friday and Adam didn't play much. I know what you_

_mean about not wanting to tell Adam about you possibly joining us. I know he isn't_

_enjoying hockey too much this season. We all wish he was with us. _

_Well I should probably do my homework. It would probably be best if I was _

_working on it when my mom got home and not writing emails. I don't think she'd take_

_that to well._

_Charlie_

Adam's POV:

I got dressed for Saturday's game quietly. Around me there was a lot of nervous talk from my teammates. This was a big game for everyone. For my teammates it was a chance to redeem themselves from their loss against the Ducks in the championship game last year. For me, it marked the second time I had to go up against former teammates. I was not looking forward to it. If we lost, my teammates would probably blame me even if Reilly didn't play me much. If we won how would the Ducks treat me in school on Monday. No matter what the outcome of this game was, I would probably lose.

"Hey don't look so glum," Alex said sitting down on the bench beside me as I finished lacing my skates. "This isn't the end of the world."

"For me it might be," I told her.

"It's just a game," she told me. "Relax. Have fun."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered softly.

Alex didn't have a chance to respond as Reilly came into the locker room.

"Okay team listen up. This is an important game for us. The Ducks are ahead of us in the standings this year. We win this and we can get past them in the standings. Not only that, this is a chance to get your pride back."

"They defeated you guys last year and that never should have happened. You're the better team. They got lucky. So I want you all to go out there and show them that our last meeting was fluke. I don't want you to just to win, I want a shut out. Now what have I always told you."

"It's not worth winning if you can't win big," my teammates chanted around me.

"Man, I won't miss skating for this jerk," I heard Alex mutter beside me. I couldn't help but smile. She would move up to the next level next year, along with McGill, Larson, and some of the others.

"Banks your in the starting line-up. Your taking McGill's place as starting right wing for this game. Okay let's go."

"Oh lucky me," I muttered as I stood up grabbing my stick that was leaning against the locker.

"It'll be fine," Alex said beside me as we headed out of the locker room together.

The Ducks hadn't come out of the locker room as we took the ice. Taking a deep breath I stepped onto the ice, tossing my helmet to the side as I joined my teammates for warm-ups. My mind was only half on the warm-ups though as I kept watching for my friends. Was this going to be a repeat of what happen last year. Maybe I was worrying about it too much, but the way things were going so far this school year it looked like it was going to be a long season. After tonight it could turn into a long lonely season.

Fulton's POV:

When I walked into the Duck's locker room, I had to make sure I walked into the right room. It was almost silent. The only sounds were those of my teammates getting ready for the game. No one was talking, nor laughing at one of Averman's corny wise cracks. It was an eerie feeling.

As a shiver ran up my spine, I made my way over to an empty spot on the bench next to Charlie. Like everyone else, I started putting my pads and uniform on quietly, refraining from asking the question 'who died?'. I wasn't sure that it was appropriate. Sure we were all nervous about going up against the Hawks again but this was ridiculous.

I was lacing up my right skate when I heard the door to the locker room open. I looked up to see Coach Bombay walking in. He looked about as surprised as I had felt by the silence that was in the room.

"Okay team, what's all this? We have a game to play."

My teammates and I all looked around at each other. None of us completely sure how to answer his question In the end all of us ending up looking at Charlie, expecting him to answer Bombay.

"I think we're all worried about skating against Banks, Coach," Charlie said. "I mean yeah, he's skating with the Hawks but he is still our friend. I don't know about the others, but I sure don't want to be like his friends on the Hawks, who stopped being his friends just because he's skating on another team. Whatever happens today, I don't want it to ruin our friendship come Monday."

Bombay nodded.

"A valid concern, but you know what, you guys already proved that you're better than the Hawks. If you remember, the fall out between Adam and the Hawks took place right after he switched teams not because of something that happened in the game between them."

"As for today, play your best. Whichever team wins or loses, the only way it will affect your friendship is if you let it. If Reilly puts Adam in the game, play him just as hard as you would any of the other Hawks, but play him fair. No cheap shots. Don't lose your temper," Bombay said looking at both Jesse and Charlie when he said that. "Don't judge Adam on things the other Hawks do. You do that, and Adam will do the same thing no matter what his teammates do. Don't let a game come in between your friendship."

I found myself nodding at his words. I looked over at the bench across from me and caught Guy's eye. He was nodding himself. I could already feel the tension in the room starting to lift.

"You guys can beat this team. The championship game last year was no fluke," Bombay was saying. "Remember what we discussed yesterday in practice. They're weakness is their defense this year which means if you can get a hold of the puck, and put enough pressure on their defense then scoring shouldn't be a problem. However, you can't let down because their offense is sharp. Keeping them from scoring should be your main priority and the goals will come. Finish getting ready, and I'll see you out on the ice."

As he left the locker room, my teammates started talking excitedly around me. Now this was more like the pre-game locker room atmosphere. Letting a smile come to my face I finished lacing my skates.


	12. Ducks vs Hawks

Bombay's POV:

After talking to the Ducks in the locker room, I headed out to the bench, knowing my team would be following me shortly. The Hawks were already out on the ice doing warm ups. I looked for Adam.

It didn't take me long to spot him amongst the Hawks. It looked as if he had fallen back into the Reilly's regimental ways with out too much problem but I noticed that something was lacking. I could tell he wasn't enjoying himself out there.

He was going through the drills like a robot. Like he could do them in his sleep. Thing was, he probably could. Hell, I knew I could have at his age. To Pat Reilly, if you couldn't win a game then there was no point to it. That was what I had grown up learning. What I had been taught.

I took that philosophy, from the ice rink and applied it to my life. I became obsessed with success. It was a mentality that had gotten me salutatorian at Eden Hall. In college, I had been the top of all my classes. Anything lower than an A was a failure. I had made it to Harvard for law school. Had graduated top of my class and passed the bar easily.

As I ventured into the "real world" Pat Reilly's philosophy had followed me. I applied what I had learned as a young kid on the ice to my career. It made me a successful lawyer in that I won my cases. I was able to charge high rates for my services so in a world where success is tended to be measured by how much money you brought in, I was successful. However, I wasn't happy.

Winning was my obsession. I didn't care if my client was guilty or not, I just concentrated on convincing the judge and jury of that fact whether it be the truth or not. After all, it was the prosecutions job to prove my clients guilt and if they couldn't do it then it was there fault.

I was so wrapped up in my career that like in college, I didn't have much time for a social life. I went to work, went home, worked at home, went to sleep and then started the cycle again. I turned to Alcohol as my escape and one snowy winter night that had caught up with me.

It had been Charlie and the Ducks that had showed me that winning wasn't everything. When I think back to the first time that I ever saw them play, I still laugh. Here was this bunch of rag tag kids trying there hardest to "play hockey". Yeah some had talent but hadn't had the coaching to bring that talent out. In my eyes then, one word came to mind - pathetic. It had seemed my luck had gone from bad to worse. Not only was I forced to coach hockey - a game I had sworn to have nothing to do with again - I had to coach a team that couldn't play.

Couldn't play but they had something else. Something that was more important although I didn't see it at the time. They had enthusiasm for the game. Passion. They weren't out on the ice because they had to be, or because they were good at it. They were out there because they wanted to be. Because no matter how bad they did they were having fun. Connie's answer to my question of what their record was at that fateful first practice showed that.

" 0 and 9," she had replied with enthusiasm. "One was pretty close though. We only loss by five. We almost scored a goal too."

Though neither of us saw it at first, the Ducks and I had been perfect for each other. Had needed each other. They had taught me that winning wasn't everything. That it was okay to fail sometimes as long as you kept on trying. In turn, I had taught them to really play the game they loved. To bring out any talent that they had. Taught them what it felt like to victorious. Winning might not be everything but it sure was nice to do sometimes.

The sound of my team taking to the ice, brought me out of my thoughts. I had a team to coach. A game to play. And it was time to have some fun.

"Charlie, pass it to Guy," I called out but either Charlie didn't hear me or he chose not to hear me. I was inclined to think it was the later.

In any case he kept going toward the goal with the puck despite the Hawk that was lurking beside him and the fact that Guy had been wide open. Guy would have had a perfect shot at the hawk goal. The perfect opportunity to put at least one goal up on the board for us.

Instead, the Hawk defender got a hold of the puck and head out of their zone with it. I knew we were in trouble. The Hawks defense currently consisted of Paris, Larson, and Banks. A trio who in the first two periods of the game had managed to put five of the Hawks' six goals up on the board.

For some reason, Reilly was playing Banks more than he had in the game I had watched, and from what I had heard, more than he had in the game against the panthers. Tonight, it was almost like nothing had changed from the beginning of last season. Adam was out on the ice being a key player in the game. Showing off the natural talent that he had for the game.

Part of me couldn't help but wonder why. Was it because they were playing us, and Reilly was taking perverse pleasure in having Adam play against his old teammates? Was it because McGill was sidelined from an injury sustained during the game against the Panthers? Or had he figured out what I had seen in the first game? There was a chemistry between Larson, Paris and Banks that you don't get two often. The three of them just seemed to know where each other were instinctively.

Not surprisingly the buzzer sounded as the puck slid past Goldberg and into our goal. I watched as the scoreboard changed from 6-0 to 7-0. This game just was not going well for us tonight.

"Line change," I called out as the teams started getting ready for another face off. Maybe some fresh players would give us a chance to do something against the Hawks.

I didn't say anything to Charlie about the botched play or the fact that he had ignored me. Now wasn't the time. If we had any chance of turning this game around then I had to stay positive. There would be time to point out mistakes made Monday during practice.

"Nice save Goldberg," I called out as he caught the puck that had been shot at the net by Murphy, Reilly having switched players also.

Goldberg put the puck on the ice, and batted it over to Averman. I found myself holding my breath as my players headed out of our zone with the puck. It hadn't been happening much this game.

Somehow they managed it, and soon Connie, Peter and Fulton were passing the puck between them, on their way toward the Hawks goal. Things were looking good. I was starting to think that we might actually get a goal this time. I wasn't the only one, as my players on the bench were on there feet rooting their teammates on.

Somehow, Connie managed to get clear of the Hawks defense near the goal. Fulton, who had the puck at the time saw it and passed it to her. She quickly shot the puck toward the goal.

"Yes," I exclaimed as the puck slid by the goalie and the buzzer sounded. We had finally managed to get on the scoreboard. If nothing else, at least this game wasn't going to be a shutout.

The goal seemed to energize the Duck. Suddenly they seemed to be playing better. Making less mistakes and more attacks on the Hawks goals. When we scored the fourth goal I could see Reilly starting to get nervous across the ice. We only had five minutes left in the game but we still had a long shot at a tie. I knew that to Reilly that would be just as bad as a loss. Things were starting to look a little better for us and I was pleased with how the Ducks had been playing this third period unlike the mistake filled first two periods.

And then everything to a turn for the worse. Adam was back out on the ice for the Hawks. In trying to clear the puck, the Hawks defense had shot the puck up the side of the arena. Adam was the first player to it, but Fulton had been heading for it too. As Adam batted the puck away toward Larson, Fulton collided with him.

I heard the referee's whistle go off, as Fulton got to his feet but Adam didn't. By this time, most of the Ducks had gathered nearby, along with Larson and Paris from the Hawks. Opening the door, I walked out on the ice. Adam might no longer being a Duck but that didn't mean I didn't care about him just like I cared about all the other kids on my team.


	13. Guilt

Fulton's POV:

I walked to the locker room with the rest of my teammates. I didn't know about the others but the fact that we had loss was the last thing on my mind. I was more concerned with how Adam was. He was clearly in pain when the paramedics took him off the ice but how bad his injuries were I didn't know. No one at the rink did.

"It's not your fault," I heard Charlie say beside me.

"Then whose fault is it?"

"No one's. It just happened," Charlie told me.

I nodded so he would drop it but I couldn't make myself believe those words. I was the one who had hit Adam. I had done it intentionally but it was still my fault.

I took the jersey off over my head and started removing my pads. At least it temporarily gave me something to do to keep my mind off the ending of the game.

I heard the door to the locker room open. Looking up I saw Bombay walk into the locker room.

"Okay team, listen up. I know you're all worried about Adam. I' m heading for the hospital now. As soon as I know anything I call you guys."

"But we want to go with you, Coach," Charlie said. I heard my teammates agreeing with him. I wasn't sure how I felt about going myself. Wasn't sure Adam would even want me there.

"No. There's no need for everyone to be gathered at the hospital, especially given current circumstances."

Bombay didn't have to say it for us to know what he meant by that circumstances. Given the way Mr. Banks felt about Adam even hanging out with us, he probably wouldn't want us at the hospital anyway. Would more than likely tell us to leave and blame us for his son getting hurt. The latter wouldn't be far from the truth either.

More than likely, Bombay wasn't going to be welcomed with opened arms either. Mr. Banks blamed Gordon for Adam ever having anything to do with us. Held him responsible for everything that had happened last season.

"I'm not afraid of Mr. Banks," Charlie said defiantly.

"We don't need any scenes down at the hospital. I want you all to go home. I'll call as soon as I know anything."

I heard my teammates reluctantly agree around me. I joined in even though personally I was relieved. At least this way I wouldn't need to try and explain to anyone why I didn't want to go to the hospital.

Coach Bombay left the locker room and my friends fell silent. I knew we were all worried but like before the game it was eerie. This wasn't us.

I finished changing out of my hockey gear. People started pairing up, evidently not wanting to wait alone. Averman and Goldberg were heading to Averman's house. Guy and Connie of course were of course going to wait for Bombay's report together. Charlie invited Jessie over to his house.

"You want to join us Fulton?" Charlie asked.

"Nah," I told him. "I think I'm going to just head back to my house."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," I told him picking up my shouldering my hockey bag and picking up my stick. "I'll talk to you later," I told him heading for the door.

I wanted to be alone. I didn't need Charlie or anyone else trying to make me feel better. Adam was at the hospital and I had put him there. Nothing anyone said was going to change that.

The crowd was starting to thin out by this time. As usual, neither of my parents had been able to make the game. My Dad was working over time and my Mom was at home with my little sister who had the croup again.

For once I was happy that they weren't there. I was looking forward to the long walk home. It would give me time to clear my head and I wouldn't have anyone answering questions. With any luck, I wouldn't even have to talk about the game when I got home.

Gordon's POV:

Walking into the waiting room of Memorial Hospital ER, I quickly spotted Adam's mother sitting alone in the one corner of the waiting room. I scanned the room for Mr. Banks and didn't see him.

As I approached her, Angela Banks was flipping a cell phone shut.

"Mrs. Banks," I said to get her attention. When she looked up at me I continued. "I'm Gordon Bombay, I coach the Ducks. Have you heard anything yet?"

"Yes, Coach Bombay, thank-you for coming down. No I haven't heard anything yet. I showed up and they just told me to have a seat."

"You here alone?"

"Yes. Adam's father is away on a business trip. I was just trying to decide if I wanted to call him now or wait until I know what is going on."

"I take it you decided on the latter."

Angela Banks nodded in reply but didn't say anything.

"Do you mind if I wait with you. Adam's friends on the Ducks are all concerned about them and I told them I would call when I knew anything."

"I wouldn't mind the company at all," Angela Banks replied indicating the chair next her.

We sat quietly for awhile. Around us, people had whispered conversations. The receptionist or a nurse would come out and call someone back. Other than that, the waiting room was quiet.

"You know, Adam really enjoyed playing for the Ducks," Angela said breaking our silence. "I hadn't seen him enjoy playing hockey that much since he first started. I know my husband's given everyone a hard time about it but I just wanted to thank-you for pointing out the district line oversight. I think it's the best thing that could have happened and Charlie and the others are better friends than most of Adam's old friends."

I was surprised to hear her say that. I guess because she hadn't really said or done anything about what her husband was doing, that she agreed with him. I tried to figure out what to say. Before I could though she continued.

"Phillip's always pushed the boys hard. Feels it the only way to make sure they're strong enough to make it in the real world. Anthony made out alright. He went along with his father for awhile but has always kept sight on his own dream and he'll stand up to his father. Is going to go his own way. Adam isn't like his brother though. Adam just wants to make those around him happy and while I think he shares his father's dream of playing pro hockey he isn't as one minded about it. There are other things that Adam is interested in too."

"I take it, its was your idea that Adam go to public school this year then."

"I couldn't let Phillip keep Adam away from his friends completely. This is the only time I've ever stood up to my husband so maybe everything that's going on with Adam is my fault. He's seen me always go along with Phillip so he thinks that's the right thing to do."

"Don't go blaming yourself for this," I told her. I wanted to say more but I didn't feel right saying what I really thought about her husband in front of her. I didn't really know her that well and I could tell that for some reason she loved him.

"I just want Adam to be happy and except for the time that he was skating with the Ducks he hasn't been for years," she said wiping away tears.

I reached out and put my arm around her shoulders. I was starting to see just how complicated Adam's home life was. Complications that right now I wasn't sure if I had made better or worse.

"Things will work out," I told her trying to reassure her. I didn't know what else I really could do.

Charlie's POV:

"We're not really getting anywhere are we," Jessie commented from my desk chair as I answered another question I don't know. We had been trying to study for the history test we had on Monday.

"Sorry," I told him. "My mind just isn't on the Civil War right now," I told him tossing my notebook to the side and sitting up on the edge of my bed.

"I know what you mean," Jesse said putting his own notebook down. "Think Fulton's going to be okay?"

"I don't know," I said. "He's blaming himself even though it isn't his fault. Its not like he did it on purpose. We all know hockey can be dangerous."

"Think Adam's going to know it wasn't on purpose?" Jesse commented. I looked up at him. I couldn't believe he had even said that. "Well come on, McGill took him out in the last game he went up against old teammates. Now Fulton."

"Fulton didn't do it on purpose," I said loudly getting to my feet.

"Okay, forget I said anything," Jessie said sitting back in the chair.

I heard a knock on the door. My Mom was probably wondering why I was raising my voice.

"Yes," I called out, totally expecting a lecture.

"Charlie, Jessie, " Mom said sticking her head through the door. "Gordon just called. Adam has a couple of broken ribs and they're letting him go home. I guess he won't be able to play hockey for a few weeks but he'll be okay."

"Any chance we can go over and see him?"

"His father's actually away on business. Gordon said that Mrs. Banks will let him know in the morning if he plans on coming home early or not. If he doesn't, Mrs. Banks said you and your teammates are more than welcome to come visit."

"Okay. Thanks Mom."

"Can I get either of you anything."

"No."

"No thanks, Ms Conway."

"Okay. Don't stay up too late," Mom told us and then left, shutting the door behind us.

"Think his Dad will come home?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah right," I said with a snort laying back down on my bed.. Adam's Dad made me happy I didn't have a Dad at times. Sometimes I think he cared more about Adam as a player than he did as a person.

I was already trying to figure out how to convince Fulton to go see Adam the next day. I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Good luck," I heard Jesse say bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Good luck with what?"

"I can see those wheels turning in your head. You're trying to figure out how to get Fulton to go see Adam tomorrow."

"How did you know?"

"I know you two well, Charlie?"

"Any ideas?"

"Not a one. He looked pretty upset when he left the locker room and face it Charlie, if Fulton doesn't want to do something, you're not going to get Fulton to do it."

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to try," I told him.

Angela's POV:

"How long will he be out?" Phillip asked over the phone.

How long will he be out? That was the first question out of my husband's mouth. Not how is Adam feeling? Do you need me to come home? No, his first concern was Adam's hockey career and how big of a set back this was going to be for "the dream".

"At least four weeks. I'll make an appointment for Adam to get checked out after that and they'll see how everything is healing."

"Well things here are progressing slower than expected. I'll probably be her an extra day or to."

"Okay. I'll see you when you get home then," I told him.

"Okay. Love you hon."

"Love you," I said and then hung up the phone.

What I wanted to do was sit down and cry. He didn't even seem at all concerned about his son. Hadn't asked if I needed him to come home early. No, it wasn't anything serious so his business came first. Sometimes I wondering exactly what it would take to get Phillip home from a business trip.

He hadn't always been like that. When I had met him, he was a very caring man. Always went out of his way to make sure I was happy. That I had anything that I had wanted. Even after the car accident in highschool had ended his chances of his dream of playing pro hockey, he still wasn't bitter. The two of us had gotten married our senior year of college. Those early years had been so happy. When Anthony had been born, Phillip had been the doting first time father. Always willing to help out.

Somewhere along the way that had changed. Phillip had grown more distant. Bitter. Had demanded perfection from both of our sons, something that no matter how hard they tired, they were never going to achieve. They were human after all not machines. The man I was married to today wasn't the same man that I had married.

Picking up the phone again, I dialed Anthony's dorm number at Eden Hall. I wanted to let him know what had happened at the game tonight.


	14. Dwayne's News

Dwayne's POV:

I sat on my bed staring at the stuff surrounding me. I was suppose to be packing but I wasn't getting very far. It wasn't that I was procrastinating it was more that I didn't know what I wanted to pack and what I wanted to leave behind.

My parents had decided not to put the house up for rent. They were worried about what kind of damage would be done to the house while we were gone. Nor were they just shutting it up which was originally their other plan.

Instead, my mom's youngest brother John, who was an engineering student at the University of Texas at Austin, was going to stay in the house. He was a senior at the university and currently living in the dorms. However, there had been a mixup at the beginning of the year, and the university had over booked the dorms. He was currently staying in a dorm with three other guys that was designed for two. Needless to say they were crowded there and there had already been talk of him moving in with us for his last year.

With us going away, my parents figured he could still live here and keep an eye on things while we were gone. His best friend Steve, who was one of the other guys in the dorm room, was coming with him. John was going to be staying in my room and Steve was getting the guest bedroom. They were actually moving in tonight. John was going to sleep on the couch until we left although I had told him he could have the bed. He had insisted that the couch would be fine for awhile.

Still, deciding what I might want or need over the next year was difficult. Did I leave my Alabama and hockey posters on the wall or take them with me? The hockey trophies? I wouldn't really need them but I wasn't sure I wanted to leave them behind either. Not to mention, the more stuff I took, the more stuff I would be re-packing come next August to come back.

I heard a knock on my down. Reaching over, I turned down my Garth Brooks cd.

"Come in," I called out.

The door opened and my Mom came in.

"Your father's on the phone. He'd like to talk to you," Mom said.

"Okay," I said standing up.

"Haven't gotten very far have you," Mom commented as we headed out of my room.

"No. I can't decided what to take and what to leave," I told her.

"Want some help?"

"No, I'll get it done," I told her as I reached the bottom of the steps. I saw the receiver of the phone in the kitchen sitting on the counter and headed toward it. My mom came in behind me and went back to packing stuff from the kitchen that we would need in Minneapolis. "Hi, Dad."

"Hey, kiddo. How's the packing coming."

"Slow."

"Well you might want to pick up the pace," he said. "The real estate agent found us a decent three bedroom apartment. I'll be moving in tomorrow night. It'll be a little more cramped than what we're use to but we'll make it work."

I desperately wanted to ask what district we were in. Would I get to play hockey with my friends or would I be playing against them. I didn't ask though. I knew my Dad would get to it eventually.

"And you'll be happy to know that the apartment is in district five. You'll get to skate with your friends."

"That's great," I said excitedly.

"I knew that would cheer you up a little," Dad said.. "At the latest, I hope you guys will up here with me by this weekend. Although your mother and I decided that if you get things ready to go earlier than that, that you'll join me before then. You kids might miss a couple of days of school but I don't think that will be a problem for you guys. I miss you all."

"I miss you too Dad."

"I have a bit a bad news for you," Dad said growing serious. "Your friend Adam was hurt in the hockey game last night. He broke a couple of ribs but he's back at home. I have his number if you want to call him."

My Dad gave me the phone number and then I handed the phone back to my Mom. I headed upstairs, a little bit more motivated to get things packed than before. Ten minutes later, my Mom came upstairs to tell me she was off the phone if I wanted to use it. She then headed to Roxanne's room, probably to tell her about the apartment.

Abandoning my packing, I headed back downstairs to call Adam. Heading for the living room, I sat on the couch and picked up the extension in there. Dialing the number Dad had given me, I listened to the line ring on the other side. I wanted to see how he was feeling and I also knew that I needed to tell him I was going to be skating with the Ducks now that it was official. I wanted it to come from me and not from one of our other friends.

Adam's POV:

"That's great, Dwayne," I told him, trying to sound excited. He had just told me that he was going to be skating with the Ducks the rest of the season. It wasn't that I wasn't happy for him because I was. It would be much easier joining a team that he knew most of the members than one that he didn't know anyone. Especially seeing as the move was only temporarily.

Still, I knew what spot he was taking. He was taking the spot left empty by me being on the Hawks. What I wouldn't do to be him. To be able to skate with the Ducks this season.

"When are you going to be here?"

"As soon as my Mom, sisters, and I get ready to leave. Should be by next weekend at least."

"The others know yet?"

"No not yet. You're the first one I've talked to. Other than Charlie, the others don't even know I'm coming to Minneapolis. Do you mind telling them. I guess I could email Charlie but you'll probably talk to them before I get a chance to do that."

"Yeah sure, it might not be till I go back to school though," I told him. 'That's if they're talking to me', I added silently to myself.

The doctor wanted me to stay home from school a few days and rest. He said I could go back to school on Wednesday if I felt up to it. If my Mom had her way though, she would probably keep me out the entire week. I planned on going back on Wednesday no matter what. I didn't want to get behind in school nor did I want to hang around the house any longer than that.

"Thanks Adam," he said. "So do you know who won last night's game. Dad didn't mention that."

"Hawks 8-4," I told him. Alex had called earlier this morning to see how I was and she had told me the final score. So far, her and Dwayne were the only two who I had heard from although Mom had said Mrs. Larson had called to see how I was. That of course, was probably because she was friends with Mom. "Reilly actually put me in a lot last night for some reason. I scored three of our seven goals before I got hurt. Even playing against the Ducks, I had fun last night. Not skating much in the first two games made me realize how much I like playing the game, even if I am on the Hawks. Now of course I'm out for at least another four weeks."

"Well its better you sit out then to risk further injury."

"I wish I hadn't gotten hurt at all," I told him even though I didn't mention to him what was in the back of my head. Part of me was wondering if Fulton had done it on purpose. If maybe the Ducks were no better than the Hawks. It was a thought I really didn't want to entertain but the fact that I hadn't heard from any of them had it lurking there in the back of my head.

The rational part of me though, reasoned that they were just avoiding my Dad. I hadn't told them that he was going away on business this weekend. I was afraid of being pressured into hanging out with them and that was something I still didn't want to risk. I was still afraid that Dad would find out somehow.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" I heard Dwayne ask and realized I had been silent while I was lost in my own thoughts.

"No. I'm sorry Dwayne. I guess the medication I'm on is just making me drowsy," I fibbed. I didn't want to share my fears with anyone. Didn't want to make them seem more real than they already were.

"Well, I should probably let you get some rest then," Dwayne said although he didn't sound like he was convinced at all. " I should get back to packing anyways. I'll be in touch Adam and if you want to talk, I'm always her for you."

"I know Dwayne. If I don't talk to before then, have a safe trip."

"Thanks. Bye Adam."

"Bye," I said and then heard the soft click as he hung the phone up on his end. I hit the button to disconnect on my end and sat the cordless phone down on the bedside table. I picked up the book we were reading for English and went back to getting the assignment for the weekend read.

Shane's POV:

"_So are you in or out?"_

That question had been haunting me since the beginning of the season and I was still no closer to deciding what I should do. Yeah, I had told McGill I was out. That I wasn't going to be involved in any of his crazy plans. Still, I knew what he was plotting to do. Knew that I should probably do something to stop it but I wasn't sure what.

My parents probably wouldn't believe me. Reilly would probably do nothing to stop if. Of course that was assuming he wasn't behind it somehow. Warning Adam, if Adam would speak to me, wouldn't probably do much good. I thought about saying something to Alex but was afraid she might get mad at me for keeping quiet this long. And again, how much good would it actually do. I even thought about going to the Ducks coach Bombay. There again, the question became whether he would believe me or not. Not to mention I was scared of McGill myself.

I knew McGill getting hurt in our game against the Panthers had bought me some time to think things through. Ryan and Mark wouldn't try anything without him. He was our leader although here lately I had been wondering why.

McGill and Adam had been my best friends ever since I had started school. Even before we were on the Hawks. We had learned to skate together. Learned to play hockey together. Had always been there for each other.

Then Adam had been taken off the Hawks because of some stupid imaginary line. I hadn't blamed Adam for going to the Ducks last year. I knew he really didn't want to but I also knew how much he loved the game. Put in his position, I probably would have done the same thing.

However, McGill had felt betrayed and of course when he started snubbing Adam I had gone right along with him. I had followed McGill for so long, that it didn't even dawn on me to question him at first. He said Adam was a traitor then that's just how it was. However, what he had done at the championship game last year was crossing the line. I saw then how much of a jerk that McGill was.

Of course by then, I had been so mean to Adam that I was sure he wouldn't want anything to do with me. Wouldn't have listened to any apology I tried to make. I then had the choice of staying "friends" with McGill or having no friends at all. I chose the former.

As I approached the Banks house I brought my bike to a stop. Looking up the drive, I couldn't help but think about how much things had change. There was a time when I would have thought nothing of just walking up and going straight through the front door. Would have been over at the house this morning to see how Adam was doing instead of having my Mom call.

I heard familiar voices behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw Charlie and the other Ducks coming up the street on rollerblades. I knew they were coming to see Adam. Not wanting to deal with a confrontation, I started pedaling in the direction of my house, still no close to making a decision about what to do about McGill's plan.


	15. Sneak Peek

AN: just a bit of a preview of what's to come with this story.

Adam's POV:

The ceiling of my bedroom was boring to look at but other than shutting my eyes it was the safest place to look. I had insisted that my blinds stay shut, not wanting to look outside as I was trapped inside for time being. Seeing my hockey gear only reminded me that I wouldn't be skating for awhile. I didn't feel like reading and as I wasn't in much pain in my current position I didn't feel like tempting fate.

There was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I called, not looking away from the ceiling.

I heard the door open. "Are you up for visitors, honey?" I heard my mom asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, which was a mistake as the movement hurt. I only hoped my mom didn't notice my wince of pain.

"I'll send them up then," she told me, retreating from the room but leaving the door open.

As I listened to her retreating footsteps, I slowly repositioned myself on the bed, having no desire to face my friends lying flat on my back. By the time I heard footsteps on the steps again, I was settling back against the pillows and headboard and hoping the pain would ease up soon.


End file.
